Vijayawada floods: People in flood-hit areas on tenterhooks as water rises again

People in flood-hit Vijayawada return home briefly after power is restored, only to evacuate again due to rising water levels.

People in flood-hit Vijayawada return home briefly after power is restored, only to evacuate again due to rising water levels. Upon learning that power had been restored, some people who had left the flood-hit areas in Vijayawada on Tuesday, September 3, when the floodwater receded by 2-3 feet, began to return from Thursday evening.

However, they couldn’t stay there for long because the Budameru rivulet was once again on spate and between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. on Friday, the floodwater in Ajith Singh Nagar, YSR Colony, Chitti Nagar milk factory area, Nandamuri Nagar, Old and New Rajarajeswari Petas, among others, started rising again, causing panic among people.

“We came back to our house only this (Friday) morning, at 8 a.m., when our neighbours, who didn’t leave, told us that power was restored on Thursday evening. We started cleaning the house, and before we were done, water levels had increased again,” said Vijaya Lakshmi, who was on her way to Ramavarapadu. She added that there was still no drinking water supply to their place.

“Just when we started heaving a sigh of relief, that water began to increase, and in a matter of two hours, it reached 2 feet high,” said a Central Government employee who was waiting for an auto at the Daba Kotla Centre along with seven of his family members as they plan to go back to their hometown, Kanpur, in Uttar Pradesh.

The NDRF personnel stationed at the Daba Kotla Centre said the water was expected to rise again. One of them said that despite their prodding people to vacate their houses, no one listened to them.

“How many times will we keep coming and going back? There is no transport facility across the Singh Nagar flyover. Who will walk all the time?” said another woman. She had left her house on Tuesday evening and returned on Thursday, only to leave again and go to her relative’s house on Friday morning.

In KL Rao Colony, where the Budameru rivulet meets the Eluru canal, floodwater entered the small lanes built on the canal banks. On Sunday, the rivulet breached the bund, and the road between KL Rao Colony and Devi Nagar was cut off.