More than 10,500 people from 62 flood-affected/prone villages were evacuated to 48 relief camps in the Bhadrachalam Agency and elsewhere in Bhadradri Kothagudem district as the Godavari peaked to the highest level of 62.20 feet — nearly 10 feet above the danger mark of 53 ft — in the past one and a half decade, at Bhadrachalam on Thursday evening. The river continued to rise alarmingly, posing a threat of heavy deluge all along its course.
The river, aided by enormous inflows from all the major and medium irrigation projects across the river in the upper reaches in north Telangana, continued to rise menacingly at the temple town late on Thursday evening. A massive volume of 19.48 lakh cusecs of flood water was flowing at Bhadrachalam downstream, when the reports came in, triggering concerns that the river may cross the 70-feet level, the highest in the last three decades.
The Godavari touched its highest ever level of 75.6 feet at Bhadrachalam on August 16, 1986, leaving a trail of destruction in and around the temple town. On August 24, 1990, the river rose to its second highest level of 70.8 feet.
Villages hit
The river wreaked havoc in the riverside villages across the Dummugudem and Charla mandals submerging vast tracks of agricultural fields, cutting off road link to hundreds of villages, flooding houses in low-lying areas and throwing normal life out of gear in the entire Bhadrachalam Agency.
Power supply to almost all villages in Charla and Dummugudem mandals was disconnected on Thursday to avoid tripping of power transmission lines after several electric poles and sub-stations were flooded by the swirling flood waters in the riverside villages.
Roads cut off
Bhadrachalam town turned into a virtual island with both the Bhadrachalam-Charla road and Bhadrachalam-Chintur road remaining cut off for the second day in a row. The 57-year-old bridge across the Godavari, the vital road link on the National Highway 30, in Bhadrachalam was closed for vehicular traffic from Thursday evening as part of precautionary measures in view of the surging water level in the river.
The flood fury has resulted in snapping of road connectivity between Telangana’s Bhadrachalam Agency and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
Perhaps for the first time after the devastating floods in the Godavari in 1986, the bridge was closed for traffic, making the temple town out of bounds for outsiders for the next 48 hours.
In view of the rapid rise in the water level in the Godavari, the district administration imposed Section 144 in Bhadrachalam town and also in Burgampahad mandal.
Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar, who has been camping in Bhadrachalam town for the past two days, held a teleconference with the senior officials of Revenue, Police and other allied government departments to tackle the serious flood threat.
The Minister said the official machinery was fully geared up to meet any exigency and prevent loss of life and property. Anticipating that the Godavari may touch 70 feet at Bhadrachalam by Friday morning, three NDRF teams, adequate men and machinery including generators, boats and life jackets, apart from ration and medicines had been adequately stocked to deal with any eventuality.
A helicopter had already been deployed in Bhadrachalam and around 5,000 sand bags had been stocked in the temple town.
Floodwater entered Subash Colony, Ayyappa Colony and Kotha Colony, forcing the residents to move to the relief camps. The Vista complex and other areas abutting the historic Sri Sitaramachandra Swamy Temple remained under a sheet of flood water necessitating the deployment of additional pumpsets to pump out the stagnated water.
Collector D. Anudeep on Thursday visited the relief camps in the temple town and oversaw the food and other arrangements.
He appealed to people to extend cooperation to the official machinery to help tide over the flood threat and prevent loss of life and property.
Over 3,001 families comprising 10,535 persons from as many as 62 flood prone villages in Charla, Dummugudem, Bhadrachalam, Burgampahad, Aswapuram, Manuguru, Pinapaka, Karakagudem and Kothagudem mandals were sheltered in a total of 48 relief camps.
