Thousands from 87 Villages Evacuated as Flood Fury Grips Andhra Pradesh; Guntur, Krishna Worst Affected

Amaravati(AP): Tens of villages and hundreds of acres of farm land remained under a sheet of water in Krishna and Guntur districts of Andhra Pradesh on Saturday, even as the flood fury in river Krishna showed signs of abatement.

After touching a maximum of 8.21 lakh cusecs in the early hours of the day, the flood discharge at Prakasam Barrage in Vijayawada has fallen to 7.99 lakh cusecs at 10 am while the inflow remained steady at 7.57 lakh cusecs, the State Real-Time Governance Centre said.

Even the discharges from upstream reservoirs showed a declining trend but the travails of more than 17,500 people in 87 villages under 32 mandals in Krishna and Guntur districts may continue for the next two days.

In the two districts, 24 villages were completely inundated by the flood.

The second warning level at Prakasam Barrage is still continuing and the government machinery in the two districts is on high alert.

Flood discharge from Nagarjuna Sagar fell to 6,80,901 cusecs and at Dr K L Rao Sagar Pulichintala to 6,51,400 cusecs on Saturday morning.

In all 11,553 people in Krishna and Guntur districts have been moved to 56 relief camps where food and drinking water are being provided.

In the lanka villages along the river course, people are reluctant to move out of their houses despite the flooding, reminding of the scenario during the massive floods in 1998 and 2009.

According to the State Disaster Management Authority, a total of 4,352 houses in the two districts remained marooned.

Agriculture crops in 5,311 hectares and horticulture crops in 1,400 hectares remained submerged in the flood in these districts.

In river Godavari, there was a marginal drop in the flood intensity with inflow at Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage at Dowaleswaram falling to 7.46 lakh cusecs.

At Polavaram project site, water stood at 26.36 meters but flood flow from upstream Bhadrachalam showed a declining trend, the SDMA said.

However, many villages under Polavaram and Devipatnam mandals in West and East Godavari districts still remain marooned.