The rain-swollen Godavari surged past the first flood warning level of 43 feet at Telangana’s famous temple town of Bhadrachalam on Thursday afternoon and swelled further, prompting the authorities to issue flood alert and start shifting people living in low-lying areas to temporary relief camps in the temple town. in Hyderabad, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao took stock of the situation and directed Chief Secretary A. Santhi Kumari to ensure official machinery was geared up for any eventuality.
The Godavari kept swelling at Bhadrachalam with the water level in the river hovering over 44 feet and about 9.79 lakh cusecs of flood water flowing downstream on Thursday night. The water level in the river is expected to reach 46 feet, just short of the second flood warning level of 48 feet, in the wee hours of Friday, official sources said.
The bathing ghats along the river, abutting the karakatta (flood bank) remained submerged and the backwaters from the swollen river entered the low-lying areas in the temple town.
Residents of the Kotha Colony were shifted to a local relief camp after the floodwaters encircled their houses, sources added.
Following the forecast of heavy rains in the catchment areas of the Godavari for the next two days, the authorities operationalised flood control rooms in Bhadrachalam and Kothagudem and kept the NDRF teams ready for deployment.
District Collector Priyanka Ala on Thursday night visited the relief camps and also oversaw the operation of high-capacity motors to pump out stagnant water at Vista complex near the famous Sri Sitaramachandra Swamy temple in Bhadrachalam. Chief Minister directed Hyderabad District Collector Anudeep Durishetty, who was earlier Collector of the district, to rush to Bhadrachalam and help the administration in taking up relief measures.
In Mulugu district, as many as 59 spillway gates of the Sammakka Sagar (Tupakulagudem) barrage were kept open releasing 8.76 lakh cusecs of flood water downstream.
The vehicular movement on the National Highway 163 at Tekulagudem village in Wazedu mandal was affected after the swollen Godavari inundated a culvert on the vital road link between Telangana and Chhattisgarh on Thursday evening, sources added.
The road link to several remote villages in Wazedu mandal was paralysed due to the floods in local streams.
The water level in Kadem dam in Nirmal district inched closer to its full reservoir level with copious inflows from the upper catchment areas of the Godavari.
Both the inflow and outflow at the Lakshmi barrage of Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district were recorded at 5.37 lakh cusecs on Thursday night as both the Godavari and its tributary Pranahita were in spate.
