Fresh flood threat looms large over AP

A fresh threat of floods looms large over Andhra Pradesh as rains revived over Coastal Andhra and North Telangana due to a low pressure area over the Bay of Bengal that intensified into a well-marked system on Monday.

The monsoon remained active, causing moderate to heavy rains at most places in two regions where people already affected by earlier floods, were battling to cope with the situation.

India Meteorological Department forecast that there was every possibility of torrential rains over 10 districts for two more days-- Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Adilabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Warangal and Khammam. On its part, the government kept these districts on high alert again, asking the Collectors to take all precautions.

Life remained paralysed in the Konaseema estuary of the Godavari as the water that encircled hundreds of islands habitations did not recede even on the third day as a result of a high outflow of 18 lakh cusecs into the sea from Dowleswaram anicut--a quantity adequate to fill four reservoirs of Nagarajunasagar size.

Normal life was also affected in the two regions due to intermittent rains.

The scene was no different even at Hyderabad where it rained heavily with occasional breaks, causing traffic snarls and inundation of low-lying residential localities and roads.

Stretches of the roads turned into cesspools here too. Elsewhere in the State, authorities opened 19 out of the 62 crest-gates of Jurala project to send 1.5 lakh cusecs of water to Srisailam, following moderate floods in the Krishna.

As heavy releases were being made from Almatti, both Jurala and Srisailam were poised to get copious inflows in the next three four days, C. Muralidhar, engineer-in-chief, Irrigation said.

Srisailam would get extra inflows from Tungabhadra river because the flood-gates of TB dam at Hospet were also opened.

As the Godavari fell below 50 ft at Bhadrachalam, flood water in marooned villages in Khammam, Warangal and Karimnagar districts began to recede.

After the day’s review of the situation, Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy ordered immediate payment of ex-gratia against casualties, and distribution of 20 kg and five litres of kerosene to each of the families leaving the relief camps.