River Godavari in spate at Bhadrachalam, crosses second warning level
Kothagudem: With torrential rains and release of water from upstream projects river Godavari at Bhadrachalam in the district crossed the second warning level of 48 feet on Monday.
The water level recorded at Bhadrachalam pushkar ghat at 11am was 50.90 feet. The river crossed the first warning level at 11.57pm on Sunday as flood water was being discharged from Laxmi barrage and Sammakka Sagar at Tupakulagudem in erstwhile Warangal. With water level in the river rising rapidly it was expected that the river might reach the third warning level of 53 feet.
With river Godavari in spate the district officials have started evacuation of residents in flood affected villages in Bhadrachalam, Aswapuram, Burgampad, Cherla and other mandals in the district. The flood water flowed into many villages causing inundation and snapping transportation.
District Collector Anudeep Durishetty and Superintendent of Police Dr. Vineeth G informed that in the wake of the flood situation NDRF teams were to carry out relief operations in the case of emergency. They cautioned the people in the flood affected areas to be alert and move to rehabilitation centres.
On the other hand, medium irrigation projects in the district were receiving huge inflows. As a result the officials lifted seven gates of Kinnerasani reservoir at Paloncha releasing 39, 000 cusecs of excess water downstream. At Taliperu project in Cherla mandal o19 gates were lifted to discharge 26, 182 cusecs of excess water. This caused inundation of low lying areas.
Meanwhile coal production in all the SCCL opencast mines in Kothagudem, Yellandu, Manugur and Sathupalli areas halted as the quarries were waterlogged due to rains. Officials were trying to drain out water using heavy capacity pumps to resume production.
Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar along with the district officials was scheduled to visit the flood affected areas and hold a review meeting on flood preparedness at Bhadrachalam on the day.Godavari
