Hundreds of villages in Andhra Pradesh, mainly the lankas (island villages), along the course of Godavari are reeling under one of the worst floods witnessed in 36 years, as the swollen river has been discharging 19.05 lakh cusecs of water as of the morning of Friday, July 15. The flood crossed the third danger signal at Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage at Dowaleswaram near Rajamahendravaram in Andhra Pradesh. Special Chief Secretary (Revenue-Disaster Management) G Sai Prasad, who has been monitoring the situation from the State Emergency Operations Centre here, said the discharge at Cotton Barrage could touch 22-23 lakh cusecs over the next few hours.
Given the rains in the upper catchment areas in Maharashtra and Telangana and the consequent rise in flood water levels, officials anticipate a discharge of over 24 lakh cusecs over the next two days. This will be the highest flood in Godavari, after the one in 1986. "As many as 554 villages under 42 mandals in six districts will face the impact of flood if the level touches 20 lakh cusecs at Cotton Barrage. Hence, we are accordingly alerting the district authorities concerned on the situation," Sai Prasad said. Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will conduct an aerial survey on Friday afternoon to assess the devastation caused by the Godavari flood. The impact of the flood could be felt in 20 mandals in Konaseema district, eight mandals in East Godavari, five in Alluri Sitarama Raju, four in West Godavari, three in Eluru and two in Kakinada districts, according to the State Disaster Management Authority.
With Godavari turning more ferocious by the hour, the number of NDRF teams have been increased to eight and SDRF to 10 for carrying out rescue and relief operations. A helicopter of the Indian Navy has also been pressed into service for emergency operations. Meanwhile, river Krishna too has been receiving a steady flood flow with the Srisailam reservoir recording an inflow of 1,46,278 cusecs on Friday morning. The current storage level was 56.38 tmc ft against the full reservoir level of 215.81 tmc ft, leaving a flood cushion of 159.43 tmc ft.
“As per current information, the flood flow may touch 20 lakh cusecs by Friday evening and go further up the next day. We have been asked to prepare for a flood of up to 28 lakh cusecs,” a district Collector told PTI over phone. Accordingly, revenue and irrigation department officials conducted an operation to identify weak spots along the Godavari river bund and traced at least six such vulnerable areas. “We have accordingly started taking protective measures. We have also identified at least 36 villages that need to be fully evacuated if the flood surge continues,” the official added.
State Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma, who reviewed the situation through a videoconference with Collectors of Alluri Sitarama Raju, Konaseema, Eluru, West and East Godavari districts, directed them to evacuate residents from low-lying areas under the Polavaram project to safer places and extend relief. In Konaseema district, about 17,000 people from 36 island villages have to be evacuated to safety. In West Godavari district too, people from 18 villages have to be shifted. Accordingly, the revenue officials are making arrangements to open relief camps at safer places and shift people from vulnerable villages.
The Indian Navy on Thursday conducted rescue and relief operations in Andhra Pradesh's Eluru district, which remained cut off due to massive flood after the Godavari river turned ferocious. A helicopter of the Indian Navy has been pressed into service to transport essential commodities in Velerupadu mandal in Eluru district that remained cut off due to massive flood.
"In response to a request received from the Eluru district administration for rescue and relief operations due to massive flooding of the Godavari River, the Indian Navy launched two medium-lift UH3H helicopters from INS Dega at Visakhapatnam on July 14 for providing humanitarian assistance to the water-locked areas of Koida (7 habitations) and Katkur (9 habitations) in Velairpadu Mandal," the Navy said in a statement.
The helicopters air-dropped relief material, including essential food items, medicines, milk, bread, to the marooned villagers, it said. So far, over 2,000 kg of relief material has been delivered by the helicopters operating from Rajahmundry airport, it added.