VIJAYAWADA: Indian Army personnel, including the engineering and medical teams from the 54 Infantry Division, assisted the civil administration in successfully plugging the three breaches at the Budameru Rivulet, which caused flooding in Vijayawada last week.
On the directives of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, works are underway to increase the height of the bunds as a precautionary measure.
The Army personnel utilised 16,000 sandbags, Hesco bastions, and locally fabricated metal Gideon bags. With Pulivagu in G Kondur Mandal in spate, Naidu has asked officials to be on high alert.
Meanwhile, the State government has submitted the flood loss report to the Central government and sought Rs 6,880 crore as financial assistance, the Chief Minister said on Saturday night.
Starting Monday, enumeration of losses due to heavy rains and floods will commence. A fever survey will also be conducted in the flood-affected areas simultaneously. As per the official statement, toll in rain-related incidents in the State has risen to 45. Of the total, 35 deaths were reported in NTR district.
As the water level in the Prakasam Barrage surged on Sunday, an alert was sounded in low-lying areas along the course of the Krishna River. At 10 pm, surplus water at Prakasam Barrage stood at 4,68,720 cusecs. The first warning was issued around noon when the water level crossed four lakh cusecs.
Due to the increasing inflows, Kolleru lake in Eluru district is also swelling up. A high alert has been sounded in the surrounding villages. Eluru district administration is prepared to evacuate people, if the situation escalates further.
Naidu calls on Governor Nazeer
The Chief Minister called on Governor S Abdul Nazeer on Sunday and apprised him about the situation arising out of the floods. Naidu briefed the Governor on the damage caused due to heavy rains in Vijayawada and other parts of the State.
Army distributes 160 kg of medical supplies
He also explained the relief and rehabilitation measures taken by the government. Governor Nazeer appreciated the Chief Minister for personally supervising the relief measures and hoped the situation would return to normalcy soon.
Despite the rainfall in Vijayawada since Saturday afternoon, relief measures continued with authorities employing drones to supply food and medicines to the flood victims in the places that are still under water. The conventional distribution system was adopted for other places.
Meanwhile, Minister for Water Resources Nimmala Rama Naidu stayed up all night on Saturday to oversee the works that have been taken up to increase the height of the bund at Budameru. He inspected the entire bund in the boat once again on Sunday afternoon. The Army mobile medical teams have distributed 160 kg of medical supplies and assisted 118 civilians across multiple camps in the region. Medical camps have been set up in critical areas such as Shanti Nagar and Ibrahimpatnam.
