Authorities of the Irrigation Department have taken all steps to avoid untoward incidents following a surge in the inflows into the Godavari.
In an alert issued on Thursday morning, the department said that the discharge of flood waters was 4.05 lakh cusecs at the Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage at Dowleswaram. The water level at the Coffer Dam of the Polavaram project was put at 24.750 meters.
“Communication has been sent to all the flood monitoring teams to stop boats from venturing into the Godavari until further orders. The boats engaged for collection of sand have also been stopped to avoid untoward incidents,” R. Mohana Rao, Executive Engineer (Irrigation - Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage), told The Hindu .
ITDA - Chintoor Project Officer A. Venkata Ramana said, “We have already evacuated 30 pregnant women to the ‘birth waiting rooms’ as flood waters from the Sabari and the Godavari are expected to inundate more tribal hamlets in the Agency area.”
Roads blocked
“As many as six main roads, including the Chintoor, V.R. Puram and Yetapaka stretches, have been blocked due to the flood waters. As a result, many tribal hamlets remain cut-off from the mainland. The village secretariats have been roped in to cater to the needs at the ground level,” Mr. Venkata Ramana said.
The ITDA has deployed officers at strategic locations to keep the authorities abreast of the flood situation. At least 15 VHF communication sets and five wireless sets have been given to those monitoring the flood situation at the ground level in the Chintoor and Devipatnam mandals. A 24 x 7 control room has also been set up at the ITDA-Chintoor office.
Meanwhile, officials stored essential goods and commodities enough for three months.
