The swollen Godavari river continued to flow above the danger mark after breaching the third warning level of 53 feet at Bhadrachalam on Sunday, triggering the threat of flooding in the riverside areas of Bhadrachalam Agency.
Incidentally, the water level in the Godavari recorded its highest ever level of 75.6 feet at Bhadrachalam on August 16 in 1986. The last time when the river crossed the danger mark of 53 feet was on September 8, 2014, when the water level shot up to 56.1 feet. At 7 p.m. on Sunday, the Godavari flowed at 55.20 feet carrying 14.52 lakh cusecs of floodwaters downstream at Bhadrachalam, sources said. The river is expected to rise by another three to four feet tonight, official sources said, quoting CWC forecast and the copious inflows from Medigadda and other barrages in the upstream.
Road connectivity between Bhadrachalam-Dummugudem-Charla, Charla-Venkatapuram and various important routes along the inter-State borders with Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh was disrupted as the floodwaters surged through the low-level road points at Turubaka, Kudunuru, Alubaka and various other agency areas. As the river turned perilous, the authorities started evacuating people living in the flood prone areas to safer places and ramped up emergency response measures to meet any flood exigency.
The backwaters of the Godavari entered into Kotha Colony and AMC colony besides the areas surrounding the flood bank (Karakatta) in Bhadrachalam. This has prompted the authorities to shift as many as 24 families to a temporary flood relief camp set up at a private school in the temple town.
The swirling waters of the Godavari inundated the bathing ghats completely and the kalyana katta on the banks of the river partially. Rain water gushed into the main street leading to the historic Sri Sitaramachandra Swamy temple encircling a shopping complex and Nitya Annadhana Satram near the temple complex. Devotees faced severe ordeal in traversing through the waterlogged streets, sources said.
Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar along with Collector M V Reddy visited the Karakatta abutting the Godavari river banks in Bhadrachalam late on Sunday afternoon. The minister reviewed the arrangements to evacuate people living in flood prone areas to the relief camps and provision of food, groceries, medicines and torch lights at the temporary camps. The personnel of the NDRF, the police and the rescue team staff of the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) have been kept on high alert for deployment for flood emergency response services.
In Khammam district, the swollen Munneru river disrupted the inter-State road link between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh as floodwaters flowed across a portion of the Khammam-Bonakal main road on the periphery of the district headquarters town. Floodwaters encircled several houses in low-lying areas located along the banks of the Munneru in the town.
Flood relief camps have been set up at the Nayabazar Government school and the Government women’s degree college in Khammam.
Transport Minister Mr Ajay Kumar and Collector R V Karnan monitored the flood situation at the banks of the Munneru and provision of amenities at the temporary relief camps set up at two places in the town.