Hyderabad: Telangana heaved a sigh of relief on Friday after heavy rains, which lashed several parts of the state over the last one week, have finally abated.
The water level in the river Godavari, however, continued to increase, and a country boat, carrying 10 flood victims in Burgampahad in Kothagudem district, capsized. One person was missing while nine others were rescued.
At 9 pm, the water level in the river Krishna was 70.7 feet with a discharge of 23.82 lakh cusecs on Friday. It was the third time that the water level in the Godavari crossed the 70-mark in the past 36 years. The river recorded a flood level of 75.6 feet on August 16, 1986, and 70.8 feet on August 24, 1990. It was feared that the water level could rise further to reach 75 feet by Saturday morning.
While all irrigation projects in the Godavari basin are brimming with water at full levels, fresh inflows too appeared to have come down drastically.
The Kadem Project and Sriramsagar Project which received huge inflows of about 5 lakh and 3 lakh cusecs respectively witnessed a sharp drop in inflows on Friday after heavy rain in the upstream areas slowed down. While Kadem received inflows of 14,351 cusecs, SRSP received 96,265 cusecs. The Yellampally project continued to receive a large inflow of 3.76 lakh cusecs on Friday. In the Krishna basin, the Srisailam project too received copious inflows of over 2.45 lakh cusecs, increasing the water level to 842 feet against the full reservoir level of 885 feet.
RESCUE EFFORTS IN BHADRADRI DISTRICT
With the water rising to an alarming level in the Godavari at Bhadrachalam,
Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao directed Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar to monitor the situation.
Accordingly, the CS held a teleconference with the Kothagudem district collector, SP and other senior officials to take stock of the relief and rehabilitation measures being taken up in the district. 10 NDRF teams, 5 teams from the Army and a rescue team from Singareni are already stationed at Bhadrachalam.
During the teleconference, transport minister Puvvada Ajay, who is monitoring relief measures at Bhadrachalam, stated that the NDRF, Army, Singareni and other rescue teams can deliver services effectively if they are stationed at Bhadrachalam and Kothagudem towns.
The CS said officials should be geared up to tackle the situation even if the water level in the river reaches 80 feet. He said people living in the villages and areas which are likely to get inundated have to be evacuated and shifted to special camps.
He said the main focus should be on ensuring that there was no loss of human lives.
The Airforce helicopter will be stationed at ITC Bhadrachalam on Friday night and 4 NDRF teams will also reach Bhadrachalam. Four senior RDOs have been appointed to support the district administration in the relief and rescue operations. Boats, buses and trucks are also being sent to Bhadrachalam.
DGP Mahender Reddy said senior police officials have been asked to coordinate and monitor the relief and rescue operations.
The CS spoke to the Army officials and requested them to provide assistance in the Bhadradri district. Accordingly, 101 army personnel — 68 were from the infantry, 10 medical professionals and 23 engineers — have left for the flood-ravaged Bhadradri district.
The tourism department has dispatched four special boats along with men to Bhadradri district to assist in rescue and relief operations. The fire department has also dispatched seven boats along with 210 life jackets and life boys.
The government has also deputed a senior officer, the MD of Singareni Collieries N Sridhar as a special officer to monitor the relief operations in the district. The infrastructure available with the Singareni Collieries will be pressed into service at Bhadrachalam for flood relief operations.
