Monsoon fury: After Kerala, reservoirs in Andhra and Telangana touch danger mark

Two districts in Andhra Pradesh and one in Telangana have been put on high alert after the rise in the water of the river Godavari. Also, the Sirsilam reservoir in Andhra Pradesh had touched the 878-feet mark — just eight feet short of the full capacity at the Lower Krishna Division — on Friday. Due to this, both the Southern Indian states aren’t taking any chances.

“When the reservoir level touches 880 feet, the crest gate will be opened,” chief engineer Narayana Reddy said to Deccan Chronicle. He added, “The inflow to the dam site stood at 3,23,538 cusecs and outflow to Nagarjuna Sagar dam was 97,000 cusecs.”

The water level at the Sir Arthur Cotton barrage in Dowleswaram, have touched 13.4 feet and the preparations for a second warning is already on the cards when it reaches the 13.75 feet mark. Almost 12.10 lakh cusecs of water were discharged from the barrage on Friday.

The East Godavari district has also seen two villages, with over 100 families being evacuated at the time of the first warning when the water level reached 11.57 feet at 11.30 pm on Thursday. Reports from Deccan Chronicle state that 158 people living in the islands of Bridgelanka and Kedarilanka in the Rajahmundry area have been evacuated and sheltered in relief camps.

The people from the Mulakalanka island have also been shifted to relief camps after evacuation. The revenue authorities have issued directions for evacuation by the Sub-collector CM Sai Kanth Varma. The evacuated people are kept at the community halls along with temporary relief and medical camps, which have been set up.

Kartikeya Misra, the East Godavari District Collector, in an interaction with PTI said the situation was under control and that they had kept a close eye on the river. He said, “Some 100 families have been affected in the two villages under Devipatnam Mandal that were marooned and we have moved them to safety. Revenue Department, police, the NDRF and SDRF teams have been deployed in Rajamahendravaram and we are prepared to tackle any eventuality.”

The network through roads to 15 tribal villages in the West Godavari district has been snapped. The Deputy Chief Minister of AP and Minister for Disaster Management Nimmakayala Chinanrajappa has asked the Water Resource Department officials to take serious measures to prevent any sort of breaches in the embankments along the Godavari.

There has also been a ban of travelling by boat, put to effect in some areas, as a measure of precaution. The East and West Godavari districts have also seen control rooms been set up. The disaster management authorities have said that two relief camps have been set up in the Rajamahendravaram district in East Godavari. The water level at Badrachalam in Telangana has reduced from 47.8 feet to 47.4  feet and it is expected that it would recede further. The authorities are hopeful of the fact that this helps to bring the water levels down at the Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage, in the next 24 hours.

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