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Kurnool, nearby villages in danger

Special Correspondent

Floods claim 18 lives in State; Tungabhadra and Handri in spate

HYDERABAD: A trail of damage was left behind by incessant rains that have been battering Andhra Pradesh, now under the influence of a low pressure area, in ten districts, besides claiming 18 lives and posing a grave threat to residential areas in Kurnool city and surrounding villages.

The downpour, which began three days ago, is likely to continue for two more days, Met officials said.

The coffer dam of Pulichintala project across the Krishna towards the Guntur side was washed away when nearly three lakh cusecs of water was released from Nagarjunasagar project upstream whereas it has a capacity of withstanding the pressure of only 20,000 cusecs.

An alarming situation is prevailing in Kurnool as the Tungabhadra and Handri rivers, which were in spate, gushed into the town and nearby villages. The main threat is posed by Tungabhadra which is expected to receive 4.20 lakh cusecs at the temple town of Mantralayam by early hours of Friday. This is the highest flood in recent history.

Moreover, backwaters of Srisailam reservoir, which was receiving inflows of nearly 10 lakh cusecs, remained stagnant without forward movement at the confluence point where the two join the Krishna.

Officials were on high alert at Sunkesula barrage, built across the Tungabhadra 27 km upstream of Kurnool city, as it was receiving inflow of 4.12 lakh cusecs (against its capacity to handle 5.24 lakh cusecs).

Most casualties were due to drowning, lightning and wall-collapses. Nine deaths were reported in Karimnagar, four in Prakasam, three in Kurnool and two in Mahabubnagar. At least 50 others were injured in different rain-related incidents.

Chief Minister K. Rosaiah, who reviewed the flood situation with officials twice, instructed the Kurnool Collector to evacuate people from vulnerable areas. The district administration opened 31 relief centres to accommodate 41,000 people.

Elsewhere in the State, rivulets, streams and tanks were in flash floods, particularly in Mahabubnagar, Guntur, Krishna, Khammam, West Godavari, Prakasam, Ranga Reddy and Karimnagar districts. Search operations were on to trace five persons reported drowned in the swollen Dundubhi stream in Mahabubnagar which recorded 21.7 cm of rain. Uppunuthala in the district reported 32 cm.

Traffic on several highways, including Hyderabad-Vijayawada and Kurnool-Nandyal, was disrupted as dozens of streams and rivers overflowed. Low-lying areas in at least 100 villages and towns like Kurnool, Vijayawada, Nandigama and Mantralayam were inundated. All the crest gates of Srisailam (12), Nagarjunasagar (26) and Prakasam Barrage (72) were opened as the Krishna was receiving a massive inflow of 10 lakh cusecs.

Rescued

Heavy rains in Anantapur district during the past 24 hours resulted in overflowing of several lakes and submerging of thousands of acres of crop including groundnut and paddy.

About 23 passengers travelling in several iron ore lorries got trapped for several hours in floods caused by the overflowing village tanks between Vidapalakallu and Kanekallu mandals in the district on Thursday. They were, however, rescued by the police and the revenue personnel.

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