Rising Godavari gives jitters to all

​Hyderabad: As the water level of the mighty Godavari keeps rising inexorably, people living in districts through which the river passes, are worried over what lay in store for them in the next few days.

Already the rains that had lashed both Telugu states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have made life difficult with several villages remaining marooned and services of private and government agencies taking a hit.

In many interior villages in Telangana, road network has been washed away and villages remain either partially submerged or marooned. With the Godavari river receiving huge inflows, Adilabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Warangal and Khammam have been affected during the last 24 hours.

The Telangana state government has positioned rescue teams in flood-hit areas. With the water level in Godavari rising relentlessly, the official machinery has been kept on a high state of alert. At Bhadrachalam, second flood warning has been issued with water level reaching 48 ft. Several low-lying areas in the district have been waterlogged.

According to the officials, transportation has come to a grinding halt in Dummugudem, Charla, Vajedu and Venkatapuram mandals in Kothagudeam- Bhadradri district as the road network has been completely damaged due to gushing flood waters. The other mandals of Chintoor, VR Puram and Kunavaram remain marooned. Initial reports said that the authorities pressed boats into service to evacuate stranded people in the low-lying areas. As part of relief operations, teams of state disaster response force are trying to reach the victims.

Officials said that the heavy inflows into Godavari at Kaleshwaram in Bhupalpally district affected normal life. District Collector Amoy Kumar along with Revenue officials visited Kaleshwaram project and are monitoring the flood situation. Villages in Eturu Nagaram mandal have been identified as worst hit by flood waters.

In Macherial district, Collector RV Karnan set up a temporary camp and is monitoring floods in Sripada Yellampally project at Hajipur mandal. The inflows at Yellampalli have been reported to be 1.7 lakh cusecs and outflows are 1.77 lakh cusecs. Several villages in erstwhile Nizamabad and Adilabad districts are also in the grip of floods. Inflows into Sriram Sagar, Nizam Sagar and Singur under Godavari basin are the highest this monsoon season.  Lower Manair dam is also receiving steady flows from Kadem and Jaikwad.

The Krishna river is also in spate with heavy inflows from the local catchment areas and upper riparian state of Karnataka. Irrigation officials are monitoring flood flows at Jurala project in Mahbubnagar district and are taking precautions to prevent submergence. 

Water is being let out from Jurala as the 10 tmc ft capacity reservoir is full. With the increased inflows, water level in Srisailam has reached 877-ft mark as against 885 ft of full reservoir level (FRL). Nagarjunasagar Project is also getting sizeable inflows pushing water levels to 530 ft as against its FRL of 590 ft.

In AP, though Krishna is not causing concern, Godavari is. As the water level has been rising, all the 176 gates of Dowleswaram, Ryali, Maddur and Vijjeswaram have been lifted to a height of 2.03 metres to let out the flood water. At present the water level at the barrage is 11.7 ft and the first flood warning was issued in on Friday morning. Second warning will be given if the water level reaches 13 ft. 

The district administration, which has been keeping a close watch on Godavari water levels, sounded an alert in the mandals located downstream of Dowleswaram. The discharge from the project on Friday evening was 13 lakh cusecs.

According to sources in the flood conservator office, the flood level will increase by early Saturday due to heavy inflows into the river from its catchment area. The officials are checking the condition of river bunds once in every hour. The vehicular movement on the barrage has been restricted.

According to sources in Amalapuram revenue divisional office, all the officials of mandals in Konaseema have been asked to be ready to shift the people from vulnerable areas to relief camps. Emergency supplies and boats have been kept ready.

Rajamahendravaram sub-collector CM Saikanth Varma said that as many as 200 families of Bridgelanka and Kedarilanka have been shifted to the city and provided necessary facilities, including food in a relief camp. They will stay in the relief camp until the flood waters recede.

Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) Rampachodavaram project officer Nishant Kumar said arrangements have been made to shift the people in the Agency area to safe places if necessary and officials of Devipatnam and other mandals have been put on alert Meanwhile, water level at Kaleswaram was 11 ft, Perur (1,204 ft), Dummugudem (14 ft), Bhadrachalam (47.8 ft), Kunavaram (19 ft), Kunta (13 ft) and Havelock bridge in Rajamahendravaram (55 ft) on Friday evening. Collector Karthikeya Misra is keeping a close watch on the flood situation.