13,227 people from 294 villages evacuated due to rains in Andhra, says minister

Amaravati, Sep 1 (PTI) Andhra Pradesh Home Minister Vangalapudi Anitha on Sunday said 13,227 people were evacuated from 294 villages in five districts due to torrential downpours in the past two days.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu reviewed the weather situation with senior officials and asked them to incorporate technologies such as drones to assess the deluge and accordingly plan the relief works.

Meanwhile, the depression over north Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha coasts, which has been causing heavy rainfall over the past two days, moved northwestwards to cross the southern state’s coast near Kalingapatnam in the wee hours of Sunday, said a India Meteorological Department official.

Home Minister Vangalapudi Anitha noted that 100 rehabilitation centres were set up in NTR, Krishna, Bapatla, Guntur and Palnadu districts to accommodate the evacuees, along with the arrangement of 61 medical camps.

“Until now nine people died due to the heavy rains. Police, NDRF and SDRF teams rescued 600 people from the marooned places. As many as 17 NDRF and SDRF teams undertook rescue operations at 22 submerged places in seven districts,” she said in an official release.

Citing preliminary estimates, Anitha said 62,644 hectares of paddy crops and 7,218 hectares of orchards were submerged.

Further, she highlighted that the command and control rooms and toll free numbers were set up in all the districts, along with the appointment of nodal officers to monitor the situation.

The chief minister, who reviewed the weather situation with senior officials, was apprised that 6,000 people living downstream of Prakasam Barrage in Bapatla district were evacuated.

In a teleconference with officials, Naidu observed that rain intensity has subsided on Sunday, compared to August 31, quoting information from the districts, but observed that some colonies and houses are still waterlogged.

Directing officials to divert water from inundated roadways, he tasked them to solve the flooding issues plaguing colonies and houses.

Stating that some places received up to 27 cm rainfall, the CM instructed officials to focus on these areas, and noted that the record rainfall not seen in the past 50 years had occurred.

“Even national highways turned into ponds due to the unprecedented deluge. Write a letter to the National Highways Authority (NHAI) and work in coordination with it,” he directed officials, according to a release.

Advising officials to incorporate technologies such as drones to assess the deluge and accordingly plan the relief work, Naidu instructed them to be careful of food and water contamination that could occur due to the floods.

He also instructed officials to take clean up works in the villages, divert floodwaters from residential areas as soon as possible and also undertake sanitisation to avoid disease outbreaks.

Civil Supplies Minister N Manohar informed the CM that rice and some basic necessities were provided to the needy in some places.

Following the subsidence of floods, Naidu called for a survey of crop loss, asset destruction and also distribution of aid to farmers.

The CM estimated that up to 10 lakh cusecs of water could be discharged from Prakasam Barrage in Vijayawada by Sunday evening, directing officials to alert downstream villagers and evacuate them.

DGP Ch Dwaraka Tirumala Rao informed the CM that rail movement has been stopped at Rayanapadu railway station in NTR district due to flooding.

Following the stoppage of Tamil Nadu express at the railway station, the home minister noted that alternate travel arrangements through APSRTC buses are being made for the passengers to reach their destinations.

Vijayawada Municipal Commissioner H M Dhyanachandra told PTI: “Budameru (canal) is overflowing in multiple areas and there was a breach also. Up to 12 wards were submerged. Upstream gates were closed to arrest the inflows. Around 3,000 people were evacuated.”

Assuring that the Budameru situation would come under control, the municipal commissioner noted that two NDRF and two SDRF teams would be deployed for relief operations.

Earlier, a Meteorological Department official observed that the depression over north Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha coasts, which has been causing heavy rainfall over the past two days, moved northwestwards to cross the southern state’s coast near Kalingapatnam in the wee hours of Sunday.

The weather system crossed near Kalingapatnam between 12.30 am and 2.30 am and currently lay centred over south Odisha and adjoining north Andhra Pradesh, about 90 km north to northwest of Visakhapatnam and 120 km east of Malkangiri.

“It is likely to move west-northwestwards across south Odisha and south Chhattisgarh to weaken into a well-marked low pressure area during the next 24 hours,” the official said in a press release.

Several places in Andhra Pradesh are expected to receive rainfall, including heavy rainfall in some places.

Parts of Srikakulam, Vijayanagaram, Parvatipuram Manyam, Alluri Sitarama Raju, Kakinada and Nandyala districts are likely to receive heavy rainfall, said an official release.

Light showers are predicted at some places in Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli, Konaseema, East Godavari, West Godavari and other districts, along with some places in the Rayalaseema region.

Alerting people living in low-lying areas, Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority managing director R Kurmandh said the first level warning has been issued at Prakasam Barrage in Vijayawada as the Krishna river is in spate, following heavy inflows.