Andhra Pradesh has been receiving torrential rains for the last 2 days. Due to this, 13,227 people were evacuated from 294 villages in 5 districts to safer places. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu reviewed the weather conditions with senior officials. He has asked them to use drones to assess the flood and conduct relief and rescue operations accordingly. An official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that the depression formed on the coasts of northern Andhra Pradesh and southern Odisha moved northwest early Sunday morning and crossed the coast of the southern state near Kalingapatnam. Due to this, the state was receiving heavy rains for the last two days.
Home Minister Vangalapudi Anitha said that people were evacuated from rain-affected areas, for whom 100 relief and rehabilitation centers have been set up in NTR, Krishna, Bapatla, Guntur and Palnadu districts. Apart from this, 61 medical camps have also been arranged. The Home Minister said in an official release, ‘So far 9 people have died due to heavy rains. Police, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams have rescued 600 people from submerged areas. 17 teams of NDRF and SDRF carried out rescue operations at 22 submerged places in seven districts.
62,644 hectares of paddy crop submerged in water
Citing preliminary estimates, Anitha said that 62,644 hectares of paddy crop and 7,218 hectares of orchards have been submerged due to the rains. She informed that toll free numbers and control rooms have been set up in all the districts. Nodal officers have also been appointed to monitor the situation. The Chief Minister reviewed the weather conditions with senior officials. During this, he was told that 6,000 people living at the mouth of the Prakasam Barrage in Bapatla district have been shifted to safer places. Naidu said that there was less rain on Sunday compared to August 31, but some colonies and houses are still flooded.
The Chief Minister said that some places have received up to 27 cm of rain. Naidu asked the officials to focus on these areas. He said that such record rainfall was not seen in the last 50 years. Naidu advised the officials to incorporate technologies like drones to assess the flood and carry out relief and rescue operations accordingly. He also directed to be cautious about food crisis and water pollution caused by floods. Civil Supplies Minister N Manohar told the Chief Minister that some essential commodities including rice have been made available to the needy people at some places.
Possibility of releasing 10 lakh cusecs of water from Prakasam Barrage
The CM said that 10 lakh cusecs of water is likely to be released from Prakasam Barrage in Vijayawada by Sunday evening. Hence, he has directed the officials to alert the villagers in low-lying areas and evacuate them. DGP C. Dwaraka Tirumala Rao informed the CM that train operations have been halted at Rayanapadu railway station in NTR district due to flooding. After the Tamil Nadu Express was halted at the railway station, the Home Minister noted that alternative travel arrangements are being made through APSRTC buses to take the passengers to their destinations.
Two teams each of NDRF and SDRF deployed
Vijayawada Municipal Commissioner H M Dhyanchandra said, “The Budmeru canal is overflowing in many areas. 12 wards have been inundated. Upstream gates have been closed to stop the flow of water. About 3,000 people have been evacuated.” Assuring that the situation in Budmeru will be brought under control, the Municipal Commissioner said that two NDRF teams and two SDRF teams will be deployed for relief operations. The weather department official observed that the depression over north Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha coasts moved northwestwards to cross the southern state’s coast near Kalingapatnam on Sunday morning. The depression is likely to move west-northwestwards across south Odisha and south Chhattisgarh and weaken into a low pressure area during the next 24 hours.
Rain is expected at many places in Andhra Pradesh. At the same time, heavy rain is also expected at some places. In the official release, it was told that heavy rain is expected in some parts of Srikakulam, Vijayanagaram, Parvatipuram Manyam, Alluri Sitarama Raju, Kakinada and Nandyal districts. It was told that light rain is expected in some places of Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli, Konaseema, East Godavari, West Godavari and other districts as well as Rayalaseema region.