KAKINADA: The floods in River Godavari, causing a lot of misery, have snapped road connectivity to Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Telangana from the merged mandals of Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday.
Since Monday, the Godavari and its tributary Sabari were overflowing. The
first warning was sounded in Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage when the water levels
crossed 10.04 lakh cusecs at 11.75 feet by noon.
Water authority discharged 11,27,715 cusecs of excess water into the Bay of
Bengal by 7pm. At Kunavaram in the merged mandal, the water was overflowing
beyond the third warning level. The Yerra Kalva near Eluru and
Jangareddygudem were also overflowing.
More than 150 villages in Alluri Seetharama Raju, Dr BR Ambedkar Konaseema
and West Godavari districts have been marooned. This was for the fourth time
in two months the Godavari was in spate.
The police have asked the people to vacate their habitations and move to
safer places. AP Disaster Management MD BR Ambedkar advised the victims to
contact the emergency control room anytime by calling the toll-free helpline
numbers 1070 and 18004250101 or 08632377118.
Many victims have reached hilly areas nearer to their habitations as their
villages were facing floods threat. The inhabitants of Polavaram Project
Affected villages in merged mandals were fed up with the constant troubles
from floods and have staged agitations.
The floodwaters entered NH-30 at Kalleru and Koyuguru. As a result, the road
link between Odisha and Telangana remained snapped. All the roads to
Bhadrachalam from Kunavaram, Chinturu, V.R.Puram and Kukunuru were under
floodwaters at one place or another, and road connectivity was lost.
The floodwaters blocked the roads at Panda Rajupeta in Kunavaram mandal. The Dacharam-Kukunuru bridge was submerged and the transport facility was cut off to eight villages. As a result, those from these villages going to
Bhadrachalam have to cover an extra distance of 15km.
In Kukunuru mandal, farmers had raised chilli nurseries by purchasing plants
at a cost of `5 per sapling and transplanted these a week back. They are
worried the chilli crop in 200 acres was totally damaged and they have to go
for an alternative crop after the floods recede.
Inhabitants of flood-prone Vaddigudem, the Vaddigudem colony,
Dharmatallagudem, Rajupeta, the Rajupeta colony, Sriramagiri, Bokkanavapalli
and other villages in VR Puram mandal have been evacuated to safer places.
The joint collector of Alluri Seetharama Raju district and Rampachodavaram
ITDA project officer Suraj Ganore told Deccan Chronicle that people of three
villages in Kunavaram mandal have been evacuated and sent to safer places.
However, though the trend of flood was rising Tuesday evening, it might
decrease by Wednesday morning, as per the recordings of water levels in
upstream areas on Tuesday.
The Kanakayalanka causeway, the border for BR Ambedkar Konaseema district
and West Godavari district, was inundated and road connectivity on the causeway was lost. Five islet villages, namely Arigelavaripeta, Ganti Pedapudi Lanka, Udimudi Lanka and G Pedapudi Lanka in Konaseema district and Kanayalanka in West Godavari district have been inundated.
The locals were making use of boats to go to other places to fetch
groceries, milk etc on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the people of the merged mandals alleged that their villages have
been inundated due to the construction of the cofferdam. The people of
Kunavaram staged a dharna at Main Road, demanding that the government
complete the R&R package and construct the R&R colonies on war-footing.
