As the Godavari surged past 61 feet level, about eight feet above the danger mark, at Telangana’s temple town of Bhadrachalam on Monday evening, the swirling flood waters of the river marooned dozens of villages in Agency areas and snapped road link to interior tribal habitations along the inter-State border with Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
The water level in the river reached 61.5 feet at 7 pm on Monday, almost equaling the previous high of 61.6 feet recorded on August 3, 2013. The highest ever water level recorded at Bhadrachalam site was 75.6 feet on August 16 in 1986, followed by 70.8 feet on August 24, 1990, 66.9 feet on August 6 in 2006, and 63.5 feet on August 14, 1983.
A state of high alert has been sounded across the flood prone and affected areas as the Godavari poised to peak to 65 feet due to incessant rains in the catchment areas and heavy inflows from its tributaries and barrages in the upstream region in the next 12 hours, sources said.
As many as 4,659 people living in flood affected villages were evacuated to 76 flood relief camps in eight Agency mandals including Bhadrachalam, Charla, Dummugudem, Burgampadu, Aswapuram, Manuguru, Pinapaka and Karakagudem on Monday.
Around 42 houses were damaged under the impact of heavy downpour and flooding in several low lying areas in the Agency mandals of the district in the last 24 hours, sources added.
The road link between the divisional headquarters town of Bhadrachalam and Charla, Bhadrachalam-Kunavaram, the agency mandal of Andhra Pradesh, and various other tribal areas remained cut off for the second consecutive day due to flooding of low-level road points.
The backwaters of the Godavari surrounded the main streets abutting the karakatta (flood bank) and caused water-logging in the vicinity of the famous Sri Sitaramachandra Swamy temple complex.
Collector M V Reddy camped in Bhadrachalam to personally monitor the flood situation and deployment of emergency response personnel for flood relief and rescue operations.
Additional Collector D Anudeep visited some flood affected habitations in Pinapaka constituency in a boat and oversaw the evacuation of people inhabiting the low-lying areas to the relief camps at Nellipakabanzar and Seetharamapuram in Aswapuram mandal.
The authorities have made control rooms fully operational in all the Agency mandals facing the threat of deluge to ensure prompt flood relief operations in view of the alarmingly rising water level in the Godavari. The NDRF and fire services department teams have been deployed in the flood prone areas to deal with the flood event.
Official sources said the staff manning the flood relief camps have been asked to strictly adhere to coronavirus preventive measures to avert spread of the dreaded virus infection.
