Floods: Situation Tense in ASR District, 800 Families Shifted to Relief Camps

Visakhapatnam:While the weeklong rains have stopped, the ASR district continued to remain tense as the Godavari’s second alert signal was sounded and 800 families shifted to relief camps on Tuesday.

Over25,000 families have lost their link to the district headquarters Paderu and Araku Valley as a seven-km stretch road between Araku and Sileru was damaged due to landslides and washing away of culverts and bridges at 10 places.

“We have suffered structural damage to the roads and are trying to restore traffic on a war-footing. We procured some earthmovers from Odisha and a national highway contract firm at Koyyuru to speed up the restoration work,’’ said ASR district collector Dinesh Kumar.

“Repair work is proving to be risky and dangerous. While removing mud at one stretch, boulders rolled over and completely damaged a JCB,’’ he said.

Health services have been affected severely due to the snapping of road communication. “People were not able to reach hospitals. Only the Sapparla PHC is accessible to the people on the Sileru side,” the collector added.

Meanwhile, the district administration sounded a second danger signal as the Godavari and Sabari rivers were swelling.

The collector said Godavari would continue to rise till Wednesday noon. “This is posing a danger to the Chintur sub-division. More villages located between the rivers are facing a threat. As a precautionary measure, we have shifted 25,000 families to relief camps on Tuesday.’’

Tribal welfare minister Gummidi Sandhya Rani visited some areas in Chintapalli and Lambasingi and met the people injured in the mudslide. She held a review with the collector and ITDA Project officers.