Godavari flows above danger mark at Bhadrachalam
The Hindu
BHADRADRI KOTHAGUDEM
As heavy rains continued in its catchment areas, the swollen Godavari flowed perilously above the danger mark of 53 feet at Bhadrachalam on Monday evening necessitating evacuation of people living in various riverside villages and other flood prone areas located along the Godavari river course in seven Agency mandals to relief camps.
Following copious inflows from upstream, the Godavari swelled rapidly at Bhadrachalam as it crossed the first flood warning level of 43 ft around Sunday midnight, second warning level of 48 ft at 6 a.m. on Monday and third warning level of 53 ft at 4 p.m. later in the day.
The authorities issued the first, second and third warnings within a span of just 16 hours and deployed the sectoral officers in the flood-prone areas and initiated flood contingency measures as per the flood manual.
As many as 336 persons belonging to 44 families from the flood-prone/affected villages in Charla, Dummugudem and elsewhere in the district were moved to as many as 30 relief camps set up in Bhadrachalam town and various other parts of the Agency mandals late on Monday afternoon.
Around 32 pregnant women from the far-flung tribal habitations were shifted to the nearby primary health centres (PHCs) in view of the flood threat as the Godavari and all its tributaries are in spate in the tribal majority district.
Flood water from the swollen streams submerged various stretches of the Bhadrachalam-Charla highway cutting off the road link between Bhadrachalam and Mulugu district’s Venkatapuram mandal, sources said.
The TSRTC suspended all its bus services between Bhadrachalam-Parnashala and Bhadrachalam-Charla on the Venkatapuram route.