RAJAMAHENDRAVARAM: The Godavari River continues to surge, with flood levels rising steadily. At the Dowleswaram Barrage, water levels are expected to reach 15.75 feet by Thursday, surpassing the third warning level of 15 feet if the current inflows persist or increase. A second flood warning was issued at the barrage at midnight on Tuesday.
At Bhadrachalam, the flood level reached 52 feet on Wednesday morning but has been gradually decreasing since the afternoon. River Conservator R Kasi Visveswara Rao reported that 15 lakh cusecs of water were discharged into the sea from Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage on Wednesday.
Many villages in Yetapaka, Chinturu, VR Puram, and Kunavaram mandals of the Alluri Sitarama Raju district have been inundated by the overflowing Godavari and Sabari rivers. Chinturu revenue authorities have relocated around 4,000 people to 149 flood relief centres, with 64 boats deployed for evacuation in the Chinturu division. Traffic on the national highway connecting Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Chhattisgarh has been paralysed for the past two days due to floodwaters submerging sections between Kuggyuguru and Nimmalagudem and between Chatti and Singannagudem.
The bridge over the Sabari River between Kunavaram and VR Puram is also submerged, and traffic has been suspended. Villages such as Vaddigudem, Sriramagiri, and Chintarevupalli in VR Puram mandal, and Udayabhaskar Colony, Chepalabajaru, and Ginnela Bazar in Kunavaram mandal are underwater. As a precaution, 131 pregnant women have been moved to primary health centres.
The river conservator has issued a high alert for all low-lying areas and Lanka villages as water levels at the Dowleswaram Barrage rise. Although the situation remains under control, the next two days are critical, he said.
People from Lanka villages evacuated
Water levels are steadily receding in Bhadrachalam, but they are expected to rise at the barrage until Thursday afternoon. In Godavari districts, residents from three Lanka villages have been relocated to rehabilitation centres. In Eluru, a rehabilitation centre has been set up in Dacharam, Kukkunur mandal, while Collector K Vetri Selvi visited Thotakuragommu to ask residents to move to relief camps