Flood threat looms over Bhadrachalam again

KHAMMAM: With Pranahita and Indravathi rivers receiving heavy inflows, water levels of the Godavari at Bhadrachalam continued to rise on Thursday.While the water level stood at 52.3 feet on Thursday evening, officials expect it to cross 53 feet (third warning level) by the night. Police have restricted the public from visiting the bank of the river. The district administration has already begun measures to shift people living in low-lying areas to shelters.

Devotees who came to the temple town were affected as the bathing ghats and kalyanakatta are under floodwater.Several cotton fields and paddy nurseries are inundated with floodwater. People living in Subashnagar, Silpinagar, Ayyappa Colony, Kothapet and near Vista Complex are in a grip of fear.

With the increasing water level and streams overflowing in many areas, road transportation to Dummagudem, Cherla, Venkatapuram, Wazeedu, and Kunavaram and Chintur (in Andhra Pradesh), apart from Chattishgarh and Odisha have been cut off from Bhadrachalam.  TSRTC have stopped plying buses which  has alarmed people living in remote areas.