Vijayawada, July 13, 2022: Godavari river was in spate in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday, resulting in inundation of several villages in the state’s coastal areas, even as neighbouring Telangana continued to witness heavy rainfall in several places.
Officials told Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy at a review meeting in the afternoon that due to heavy rains in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Telangana, the Godavari river had been in a spate.
The outflow into the river at Dowleshwaram barrage near Rajamahendravaram was 10 lakh cusecs (cubic feet per second) with the officials sounding a second danger warning. There are indications that more than 16 lakh cusecs of water could be released at the barrage by Tuesday night.
At Polavaram, where a massive dam is being built on Godavari river, the water level reached up to 34.10 metres, forcing the authorities to open all the 48 flood gates to release 15 lakh cusecs of water.
The release of water from Polavaram dam and Dowleshwaram barrage resulted in inundation of several villages in Konaseema district. At Yelakalanka village of Ainole block, as many as 15 farmers travelling in a boat were washed away in flash floods to the Godavari river, but they were rescued on time by the local officials with the help of power boats.
At Yanam town which is part of Puducherry, the Godavari river reached its maximum level, disrupting the traffic on the Yanam-Edurlanka bridge.
The chief minister announced release of ₹2 crore each to Alluri Sitarama Raju, East Godavari, Eluru, and Ambedkar Konaseema districts, to take up rescue and rehabilitation operations.
Stressing that there should be no loss of life under any circumstances, he told officials to be prepared with SDRF and NDRF teams and also instructed the district collectors to bring control rooms, and prepare relief camps for taking care of people from inundated areas with proper facilities.
Jagan also told them to provide ₹1,000 as relief to the individual victims and ₹2,000 as relief to families. He asked them to ensure that all types of medications are available at PHCs, area hospitals, and district hospitals, along with generators to meet emergency services without any interruption. He ordered that due priority be accorded to power restoration works, plugging breaches to canals in case of damages, and also supplying drinking water to all affected areas.
Heavy rain lashes Telangana
Northern Telangana districts continued to receive heavy rains, with Kerameri of Kumaram Bheem district receiving a maximum of 188.5 mm rainfall in the last 24 hours ending 6 pm on Tuesday. The other areas that received huge rainfall were: Utnur (175.4 mm), Jainoor (163.2) Inderavelly (127.6), Mamda (122.5), Pembi (121.8), Lingapur (121.2), Asifabad (116.3), Neradigonda (115.6).
Four of a family, including two children, died of electrocution at Beedi Colony Workers under Devanpally police station limits in Kamareddy district due to heavy rains on Tuesday.
According to police, two children – Adnan and Maheem, who came out of their house in rain came in contact with a live wire and died of electrocution. Their parents – Ahmed and Parveen, who rushed there to save their children were also electrocuted and died on the spot according to the reports published in hindustantimes.com.
As many as nine agricultural labourers from Bornapalli village of Raikal block were stranded on an island located in the middle of Godavari river as water in the river is flowing at the danger level following the release of water from Sri Ram Sagar Project.
Revenue officials, who rushed there, were trying to rescue the stranded labourers with the help of boats by deploying NDRF teams. The officials also kept a helicopter ready to evacuate labourers, if necessary.
