Steps on to relocate residents of low-lying areas to safer places
With the water level in the Godavari increasing steadily, the revenue and the police officials of the East and the West Godavari districts were on high alert on Monday and shifted their attention to relocating the residents of low-lying areas to safer places, restoring the road traffic and power supply in the vulnerable places.
By Monday evening, the water level was 14.3 feet at the Dowleswaram barrage, prompting the officials to retain the second warning level. In all, 13.71 lakh cusecs was discharged into the Bay of Bengal from the barrage. Movement of vehicular traffic was suspended on the barrage since the morning.
A farmer was washed away in the Godavari while 19 managed to swim back to the shore near Mummidivaram in the morning, when a group of farmers left for Gurajapulanka island to take care of their cattle. The country-made boat in which they were travelling capsized in the return journey. A major tragedy was averted since the boat was close to the shore and all of them knew swimming. Nalla Buchi Maheswara Rao, however, was washed away in the currents and efforts were on to locate him.
This incident prompted the officials to suspend the operations of country-made boats all over the district. In the absence of mechanised boats, residents in the low-lying areas and island villages faced severe hardship during the day.
Home Minister N. Chinarajappa toured the agency area, where a good number of tribal villages and hamlets were cut off. Roads including the highways were marooned and there was no transportation to reach the remote places. Relief camps were arranged with medical facilities.
In all, 43 villages in 19 mandals of E. Godavari district were affected and 2,982 people were shifted to the 19 relief camps in the agency area and the Konaseema region. Three NDRF and SDRF teams each aided by two battalions of the APSP were on the job of rescuing the flood-affected.
In West Godavari district, the historic Baineru bridge at Jangareddigudem and the Jalleru bridge collapsed due to the floods.
