Officials sounded a high alert in the Polavaram project-affected villages in the Agency Mandals of Eluru district which are prone to floods as the Godavari River continued to be in spate due to heavy rains in its catchment areas in the last few days.
The water level in the Godavari was at 51.40 feet at Bhadrachalam at 10 am on Wednesday, and the forecast is it will rise further, the Central Water Commission (CWC) officials said.
Eluru district Collector V. Prasanna Venkatesh, who reviewed the situation with the Irrigation, Tribal Welfare, Revenue, Medical and Health Department officials, directed the flood duty personnel to make arrangements to evacuate more people to the relief centres.
"We are assessing the situation with inputs from the CWC and the officials concerned of the Telangana government. As there were heavy rains in the upstream areas in Telangana, the flood may rise in the Godavari,” the Collector told The Hindu.
About 24 habitations in Velerupadu and Kukunur mandals were inundated in flood and the villagers were shifted to the rehabilitation centres. If necessary, more people would be evacuated, Mr. Venkatesh said.
"The flood level at Polavaram spillway is at 34.325 metres and the Irrigation Department officials discharged 12.84 lakh cusecs,” the Collector said adding that the project officials were monitoring the situation round-the-clock.
Police pickets
Meanwhile, in West Godavari district, Superintendent of Police U. Ravi Prakash, along with Narsapuram Deputy Superintendent of Police P. Veeranjaneya Reddy visited the flood-hit habitations in Narsapuram and Elamanchili Mandals.
Police pickets have been posted at the river and canal bunds. Villagers were asked not to enter the waters for fishing, bathing and swimming as the river was swollen, the SP said.
Locals said that many island villages were marooned as the Godavari was in spate for the last three days and communication has been cut off to the low-lying habitations.
Meanwhile, all the rivulets, streams and canals were overflowing in the villages in Eluru and West Godavari districts. In some areas, villagers were using boats to shift to safer places as the water was overflowing on the causeways.
