Vijayawada reels under flood fury

Vijayawada: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is leading from the front in providing succour to flood-affected people in the city.

Camping in the city since Sunday afternoon, the Chief Minister is personally monitoring relief operations in the city, battered by heavy rain and floods.

CM Naidu, who had a night halt in his bus, has turned the office of the NTR district collector in the city into his temporary office to supervise the rescue and relief operations with ministers and top officials.

The 74-year-old has undertaken multiple visits to flooded areas in a boat, ignoring the advice of his security officers.

Naidu, who became the chief minister for a fourth time in June, has vast experience in leading the administration in tackling natural calamities. In 2014, he camped in Visakhapatnam to oversee the restoration of the port city after it was devastated by the Hud Hud cyclone.

This time the state witnessed devastation with heavy rainfall for the past three days. Cloudbursts with rainfall of 29 cm to 34 cm in a few hours triggered the floods. Traffic flow on national highways came to a halt with overflowing of flood water and a large number of train services were cancelled.

Multiplying the flood devastation, the Budameru stream passing through Vijayawada city submerged several colonies forcing nearly two lakh people to take shelter on the terrace or first floor of their buildings to save their lives.

Moved by the plight of flood-affected people, the Chief Minister set an example of real-time governance in a time of crisis. He virtually shifted the administration from Amaravati to Vijayawada to be at the nearest point of the flood-affected region.

Directing the officials to face the challenge of floods in the state, he swung into action at the field level. Staying in a special bus, he is guiding the administration in tackling the situation. Stating that protecting the lives and property of people is his first priority, he has declared that he will stay back till normalcy is restored.

Heavy rainfall has caused devastation, especially, in Krishna and Guntur districts. Floods in Budameru have inundated Singh Nagar, Nandamuri Nagar and other low-lying areas in Vijayawada, affecting two lakh people.

The Chief Minister, who initially conducted a review of the heavy rainfall and flood situation from the AP Disaster Management Authority office, decided to be more accessible to flood-affected region and started running administration from the NTR district collectorate in Vijayawada from Sunday by summoning all the officials of CMO.

CM Naidu visited the flood-hit area around midnight to assure the affected people that the administration would take care of them. The next morning, he again visited them to enquire if they received food and drinking water.

The Chief Minister also contacted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah and apprised them of the present flood crisis.

He requested them to treat this flood devastation as a natural calamity. The Centre responded immediately and started deploying 10 NDRF teams, 40 power boats and six helicopters to rescue people.

Through his visits, the Chief Minister tried to instil confidence among the stranded people. He directed officials to adopt a humanitarian approach and render all possible assistance.

Residents coming out of their houses in flood-affected localities in Vijayawada