From moderate showers to heavy spells of rain, the district is experiencing wet weather for the last 24 hours. Agriculture fields were inundated at many places, the damage caused by it is to be assessed later, and water entered into houses in some places forcing the people to shift to temporary camps being set up by the District Administration.
No report of damage to houses and other structures or loss of human life was reported till late in the night. The causeway between Chodavaram and Madugula was washed away.
Water levels in the seven medium irrigation reservoirs were on the rise due to the inflows received and as they started overflowing, the gates were lifted to release water after taking precautions like alerting people living downstream.
Collector V. Sheshadri said a constant watch is being kept all over the district and special attention was on Chodavaram and Butchiapeta mandals and on the Pedderu, Konam and Raiwada reservoirs.
By late in the evening, authorities have shifted 450 families of Dwaraka Nagar, Relliveedhi colony, Bhanoji Nagar and P.S. Peta in Chodavaram to four relief camps set up in Kalyanamandapam, a college and ZP High School.
Water level at Raiwada touched 113.70 feet at 6 p.m., just short of its FRL OF 114 feet. But the farmers were not happy with the rains. Two young farmers, Mahadeva Naidu and K. Raju who were walking on the bund of the reservoir along with others to have a look at the water level, said rain during the July-end and August season would have helped a lot when sowing was done. There were no rains then. Rain due to cyclone during September revived the drying paddy crop but rain due to this cyclone would damage the crop on the field.
Tanks overflowing
At several places water from the overflowing tanks, which received inflows from the nearby hills, was flowing across the road. Farmers turned to fishing for a brief time as the fish in the tanks were carried along the flow into the fields.
Meanwhile, according to reports, Sarada river had breached near Ganaparthy in Munagapaka mandal while the Mudiraja colony in Anakapalli is facing threat of inundation. The Vedullagedda had breached between Kunchangi and Vegullagedda. Visakha Agency is also receiving heavy rains and paddy crop was reportedly damaged in some places. A control room was established in the Collectorate with a toll free number 1800 4250 0002 or 984991 3705.
