Over 11,000 people from the Krishna and Guntur districts in Andhra Pradesh have been shifted into 56 relief camps after incessant and heavy rains in the upper catchment areas of the Krishna River resulted in floods in the two districts.
A second-level flood warning is in place at the Prakasam barrage on Krishna River, as it is receiving an inflow of 7,57,005 cusecs of water against an outflow of 8,21,250 cusecs with almost no flood cushion (the storage space in dams marked to absorb unexpected high flows). The project is currently at 100 percent capacity of its full reservoir level (FRL), with water touching 3.07 TMC.
The latest situation report released by the SDMA on Saturday, 17 August, afternoon stated that a second-level warning continues to remain in place with a steady inflow trend.
“District authorities of Kurnool, Guntur and Krishna are on alert and have taken all precautionary measures. The situation is under control. All concerned officials are alerted; NDRF, SDRF, fire services are on alert,” reads the report.
District Collector A MD Imtiaz and Vijayawada CP Dwaraka Tirumala Rao have addressed the media about the relief measures being taken in the areas.
“The present condition may prevail for up to three to four days and in view of the heavy floods, we have taken all the necessary measures. We have shifted people from low-lying areas to relief camps,”A MD Imtiaz
In the two districts, a total of 140 fire service teams – 84 in Krishna district and 54 in Guntur district – have been deployed. 180 NDRF teams – 120 teams in Krishna and 60 in Guntur – have been deployed and 10 SDRF teams have also been sent to Guntur.
According to official reports, the inflow trend at Nagarjunasagar and Srisailam projects are witnessing a steady inflow while the inflow is falling at Pulichintala project.
The police along with revenue authorities, have rescued as many as five people who were stuck in floodwater in Amaduralanka of Krishna district.
According to a preliminary damage report by APSDMA, 87 villages have been affected due to floods in both districts. The SDMA said that one human casualty has been reported in Guntur, while one person is missing in Krishna district.
As many as 160 houses have been damaged and 3,815 houses marooned in Krishna district, while 537 houses have been marooned in floods in Guntur. Over 5,000 hectares of agriculture and 2,000 hectares horticulture was damaged in both districts while 20 hectares sericulture was damaged in Krishna district.
In both Krishna and Guntur districts, a total of 54 medical camps have been set up to address the instant medical problems of the people. State Minister Vellampalli Srinivas has visited several flood-affected low-lying areas and has urged the locals to relocate to relief camps.
The Krishna river, which flows across four states, is in spate after very heavy rainfall in Maharashtra and Karnataka over the past two weeks.
It has resulted in the gates being opened in dams across Maharashtra – where the Krishna River originates – as well as in Karnataka, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh – where the river finally drains into the Bay of Bengal. The water levels in dams are nearly full across the four states.
(The article was originally published on The News Minute.)
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