Life Goes Out of Gear in Eluru, East and West Godavari Districts

Kakinada: Incessant rainfall during the past three days due to the depression in Bay of Bengal has thrown life out of gear.

Many villages in agency areas like Velerupadu, Jangareddygudem, Koyyalagudem and Buttayigudem are in total darkness as power supply has got disrupted after many of the electric poles fell down.

In many villages, there is no drinking water. People are forced to filter and drink muddy water.

Nearly 35,000 acres of crops have got inundated in Eluru, East and West Godavari districts. Fields appear like lakes.

People of many villages are having to deal with snakes because of the floods. Officials have deployed snake catchers in Kamsalipalem village in Nidadavole mandal.

Two NDRF teams have reached Eluru district for restoration works. 3,200 people have been accommodated at the rehabilitation centre in Velerupadu mandal, said tahsildar G. Chinna Rao. Many villages have been cut off due to breaches in several rivulets in Velerupadu, Jangareddygudem, Koyyalagudem, Polavaram and Buttayigudem mandals.

Information minister K. Partha Saradhi, along with Denduluru MLA Chintamaneni Prabhakar, Chintalapudi MLA S. Roshan Kumar and Polavaram MLA Ch. Balaraju visited the rain-hit areas, including Velerupadu, and reviewed the situation.

Eluru district collector K. Vetri Selvi has asked officials to be on alert, as water levels have touched 35 feet at Bhadrachalam. She asked officials to shift people to rehabilitation centres and supply water packets and essential commodities.

East Godavari collector P. Prashanthi inspected the rehabilitation centres in the district. She instructed medical and health officials to ensure that seasonal diseases do not spread in rain-hit areas.

Tourism minister Kandula Durgesh said permanent steps will be taken in the coming days to resolve the inundation threat from Yerrakalva. He reviewed the flood situation at Peravali mandal on Saturday and said input subsidy will be given to the rain-hit farmers.