Declare Heavy Rains and Budameru Floods as a National Calamity: CM Naidu

The Chief Minister made the plea before a central team that assessed the flood-damage, when its members met him at the secretariat Thursday evening at the conclusion of their two-day tour of the affected areas.

Due to heavy rains and floods in recent days, an unforeseen disaster has occurred, causing immense loss and hardship to people in several regions of the state, Naidu noted.

The Chief Minister urged the Centre to be generous in assisting the people.

This disaster, he said, should not be viewed like previous, regular floods. “Record-breaking rainfall and sudden floods have disrupted people’s lives. There has been severe damage to people’s properties and farmers have suffered as their crops were submerged underwater.”

“Besides the loss of lives and property, people have suffered from a lack of drinking water and food, causing extreme distress. We expect that the Centre would ensure aid to help the affected people.”

Naidu said, “Within two days, 50cm of rainfall was recorded. Such large floods had never been witnessed in the history of the Krishna barrage. The barrage was equipped to handle a maximum flood of 11.90 lakh cusecs. The recent rains brought in 11.43 lakh cusecs of water, marking this as a record-level flood.”

The Chief Minister continued, “Ministers and officials worked on the ground and we remained in Vijayawada to give people confidence, operating from the Collector’s office, like a Secretariat. Deploying the entire machinery into action, we instilled trust in the people.”

Naidu also stated, “We immediately transported drones to supply food. We exerted all efforts, using fire engines to clean roads and houses. From the Chief Minister to junior staff, we executed flood relief operations like a war.”

“There was considerable crop loss, and it is also necessary to ensure help reaches the affected tenant farmers. Roads and irrigation systems sustained severe damage. Only with a good package for the flood victims and farmers, who have lost everything and are in crises, can recovery be possible. Hence, I urge (the Centre) not to view this as a regular disaster,” the CM told the central team.

Anil Subramanyam, the joint secretary to the Union home ministry who led the central team, described their experiences from the flood-affected areas to the chief minister. "Even after such extensive floods and hardships, the people hold immense trust in the government. Governmental actions have provided them solace. Nowhere did we see dissatisfaction or anger among people towards the government,” he affirmed.

The team members noted that the governmental relief efforts, including the use of drones, were exceptionally innovative. “We understood from our field visits that there was massive crop loss and severe damage to infrastructure facilities.”

“People expressed their grievances regarding the Budameru floods, explaining that such floods occurred after nearly 60 years. They requested a permanent solution to this issue," the team members told the CM.

The team pledged to bring the matters they observed during their two-day visit to the central government’s attention and strive to ensure adequate assistance.