Godavari flood water swells to 19 lakh cusecs in Andhra Pradesh

Amaravati: Hundreds of villages, mainly the lankas (island villages), along the course of Godavari are reeling under one of the worst floods as the swollen river has been discharging 19.05 lakh cusecs of water as on Friday morning.

The flood crossed the third danger signal at Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage at Dowaleswaram near Rajamahendravaram in Andhra Pradesh.

Special Chief Secretary (Revenue-Disaster Management) G Sai Prasad, who has been monitoring the situation from the State Emergency Operations Centre here, said the discharge at Cotton Barrage could touch 22-23 lakh cusecs over the next few hours.

“As many as 554 villages under 42 mandals in six districts will face the impact of flood if the level touches 20 lakh cusecs at Cotton Barrage. Hence, we are accordingly alerting the district authorities concerned on the situation,” Sai Prasad said.

Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy will conduct an aerial survey on Friday afternoon to assess the devastation caused by the Godavari flood.

The impact of the flood could be felt in 20 mandals in Konaseema district, eight mandals in East Godavari, five in Alluri Sitarama Raju, four in West Godavari, three in Eluru and two in Kakinada districts, according to the State Disaster Management Authority.

With Godavari turning more ferocious by the hour, the number of NDRF teams has been increased to eight and SDRF to 10 for carrying out rescue and relief operations.

A helicopter of the Indian Navy has also been pressed into service for emergency operations.

Meanwhile, river Krishna too has been receiving a steady flood flow with the Srisailam reservoir recording an inflow of 1,46,278 cusecs of Friday morning.

The current storage level here was 56.38 tmc ft against the full reservoir level of 215.81 tmc ft, leaving a flood cushion of 159.43 tmc ft.