Over 150 villages in Koutala and Bejjur mandals were cut off on Sunday following flooding of the Penganga near Sirpur (T) mandal in Adilabad district. The river came in spate the previous evening after the heavy discharges from Gokhurd dam in Bhandara and Iraqi dam in Chandrapur district of neighbouring Maharashtra reached it.
As much as 6 km of the road between Sirpur (T) and Koutala was submerged due to fresh floods which also caused inundation of thousands of acres of land. There is a likelihood of the road bridge across the Maddelavagu stream outside Sirpur (T) suffering damage in the floods.
There is also the fear of some of the RTC buses being stranded at Tonkini and getting washed away in the fresh floods as the Penganga breached its bank at Tonkini and spilled over a width of over 1 km. These buses were used to transport election officials on July 30 and could not be taken back to the respective depots as the Tatichettu Orre has been overflowing since then.
The inter-State road from Venkatraopet was also submerged disrupting traffic between Sirpur (T) and Gondpipri in Chandrapur district. The inter-State river traffic between Koutala and Maharashtra at Tummidi Hatti was also suspended as the flooded Penganga brought the Pranahita in spate.
The route between Kagaznagar and Bejjur via Penchikalpet was also cut off owing to streams overflowing inundating the road. The road has also suffered extensive damage in the recent floods.
