MAHABUBNAGAR: Birelli village in Gadwal mandal on Monday saw heavy flooding by water released from Jurala project. People living in the region were fearful of the Krishna river’s rising water level and kept themselves ready for evacuation. Many living in low-lying areas were removed from their homes as a precautionary measure.
Many of them left their houses voluntarily and took their valuables with them to the village’s public elementary school. They planned to spend the night there.
The riverine island of Gurramgadda on the Krishna, with a population of 800, was virtually cut off from the world due to flooding. The village has no power connection and officials said it would take at least a week for it to be repair. The bridge out of the island has been submerged under water.
The water had on Monday reached the villages of Malleswaram, Somashila, Jataprolu, Manchalakatta, Yaparla, Pebbair, Bekkem, Periyamaur, Tarur, Amaragiri, Baswapuram and Goodem. Vasunagar at Maganur too was submerged.
The farmlands in these villages, on which sowing was done only recently, were inundated with water. Shepherds and fishermen from the region have been asked to stay away from the Krishna river.
Heavy crop damage was also reported at Hindpur, Murahardoddy, Mudumala, Pasupula, Nandimala, Dharalur, Khammampadu and Garlapadu.
Meanwhile, officials of Nagarkurnool and Wanaparthy district warned the people of possible flooding by the Tungabhadra river. It may be recalled that the inflows to Jurala on July 30 were just 10,000 cusecs.
Now, they have gone up to 8 lakh cusecs. During the 2009 floods, the inflows to Jurala were 10.2 lakh cusecs. The Tungabhadra was relatively tamer at 7.50 lakh cusecs.
The water capacity of the nearby Srisailam reservoir is 215 tmcft. Currently, it has 193 tmcft and it is being pumped out at 6.8 lakh cusecs to Nagarjuna Sagar through 10 gates. The district collectors of Narayanpet and Gadwal were on alert along with Irrigation officials who were monitoring water levels.
The tahsildars of each mandal were ordered to remain in the catchment area to monitor the situation.
A separate control room was set up in district centres. The public was informed of toll-free numbers to call immediately in the event of catastrophic flooding. The numbers were propagated through social media websites.
Minister inspects damage
Minister V Srinivas Goud and Mahbubnagar MP M Srinivas Reddy visited the village of Hindupur which was badly affected by the rising waters.
Goud told the residents a site had been identified for people who were losing their houses to the floods.
He assured the government would take care of them.