.PM arrives into AP for aerial survey

 

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived at Gannavaram Airport here from New Delhi by an Indian Air Force aircraft around 2.30 p.m. and began an aerial survey of the Krishna and Guntur districts ravaged by the massive flood in the Krishna River.

Accompanied by Chief Minister K. Rosaiah, Union Ministers Veerappa Moily, S. Jaipal Reddy and the National Disaster Management Authority member Marri Sashidhar Reddy, the Prime Minister began the aerial survey by military helicopters. In all, four helicopters were being used for the survey.

Dr. Singh will reach Hyderabad by the IAF aircraft for a detailed discussion at the Raj Bhavan with the Chief Minister and the officials on the damage caused by the floods.

After a night’s halt at the Raj Bhavan, Dr. Singh will leave for an aerial survey of the flood-hit areas of Karnataka on Saturday morning.

Talking to reporters before the arrival of the Prime Minister, Mr. Rosaiah said he would impress upon Dr. Singh on the need to declare the floods in Andhra Pradesh as a ‘national calamity’. He thanked UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister for announcing liberal financial assistance for Andhra Pradesh.

Krishna breaches embankment, 70 villages inundated

THE HINDU Villagers of Volerupalem being rescued after the Krishna river flood embankment breached at Oleru village in Pallepalem on Tuesday. Photo: T. Vijayakumar

Embankments of the Krishna and its numerous canals criss-crossing the delta in Guntur and Krishna districts have begun breaching at several places as there was no let up in the outflow of water from the Prakasam Barrage in Vijayawada on Tuesday.

One embankment gave way near Repalle town in Guntur in the wee hours. The surging water soon entered at least five villages downstream. Officials evacuated people from these villages before any lives were lost and are persuading those in other villages to leave to safer places. Irrigation and revenue officials are planning ways to prevent water from entering Repalle town.

Meanwhile, contrary to the assurances given by Chief Minister K. Rosaiah and irrigation officials that the outflow from the Prakasam Barrage would come down to 9 lakh cusecus on Monday by regulating the releases at Nagarjunasagar, the discharge remained at a high of 10.8 lakh cusecs till Tuesday noon. Officials are now attributing this heavy inflow to the water released 24 hours ago, the time taken for the water to flow from Nagarjunsasgar to the Prakasam Barrage.

People in the Diviseema area of Krishna district, especially in Hamsaladeevi village, lying in the estuary, are living in the grip of fear. This village lies about seven km from the Bay of Bengal and any breach of the river embankments, already being pounded by the enormous quantity of water, would spell disaster.

So far, two breaches have occurred — one to the KEB canal inundating three to four villages and another near Edurumundi village which has submerged 12 villages.

PTI report adds

The Krishna river flood embankment breached at Oleru village in Pallepalem today.

The Irrigation Department rushed to close the 20-metre breach point, however, after struggling for two hours, they expressed their inability to accomplish the job till the flood recedes, officials said.

Industries Minister K Lakshminarayana and Technical Education Minister M V Ramana Rao directed the police to use force if necessary to shift the villagers to safer places.

The breach caused due to the release of 11.2 lakh cusecs of water from the Prakasam barrage (near Vijayawada) down the stream and also due to farmers inserting cement pipes in the flood bank for drawing water to irrigate their lands, officials said.

As many as 70 villages in 15 taluks along the river course were inundated by the floods in Guntur district. The most hit were Bhattiprolu, Repalle, Kollur and Kollipara taluks.

The ancient Amaralingeswara Swamy temple in Amaravathi town continues to be encircled by water. Low lying areas in the town are waterlogged. The Amaravathi-Guntur road has breached disrupting traffic. Madduru village is marooned.

Water level rises in Hussain Sagar Lake in Hyderabad

The face of the Buddha presents a picture as placid as the surface of the Hussain Sagar on Saturday and rains lashed the Twin Cities. PHOTO: K. RAMESH BABU.

Water level in the Hussain Sagar Lake here rose tonight but there was no immediate danger, Andhra Pradesh Health Minister D Nagender said.

The full capacity of the lake, a major water body in the state capital, is over 514 metres, while the present level of water is over 513 metres and about 2000 Cusecs of water is been released, he said.

Mr. Nagender said low lying areas have been alerted about the possibility of water level rising further in the lake but there is no immediate danger.

Mr. Nagendar and other Ministers would visit various localities in the city on Sunday as heavy rain has resulted in accumulation of water there.

Fear grips villages as toll mounts to 55 in flood-hit AP

PTI Flood water gushes out of the gates of Nagarjuna Sagar dam in Andhra Pradesh on Monday.

Embankments of the Krishna and its numerous canals criss-crossing the delta in Guntur and Krishna districts have begun breaching at several places as there was no let up in the outflow of water from the Prakasam Barrage in Vijayawada on Tuesday.

One embankment gave way near Repalle town in Guntur in the wee hours. The surging water soon entered at least five villages downstream. Officials evacuated people from these villages before any lives were lost and are persuading those in other villages to leave to safer places. Irrigation and revenue officials are planning ways to prevent water from entering Repalle town.

Meanwhile, contrary to the assurances given by Chief Minister K. Rosaiah and irrigation officials that the outflow from the Prakasam Barrage would come down to 9 lakh cusecus on Monday by regulating the releases at Nagarjunasagar, the discharge remained at a high of 10.8 lakh cusecs till Tuesday noon. Officials are now attributing this heavy inflow to the water released 24 hours ago, the time taken for the water to flow from Nagarjunsasgar to the Prakasam Barrage.

People in the Diviseema area of Krishna district, especially in Hamsaladeevi village, lying in the estuary, are living in the grip of fear. This village lies about seven km from the Bay of Bengal and any breach of the river embankments, already being pounded by the enormous quantity of water, would spell disaster.

So far, two breaches have occurred — one to the KEB canal inundating three to four villages and another near Edurumundi village which has submerged 12 villages.

PTI report adds

Though the flood situation in Andhra Pradesh showed marked improvement, the death toll in the deluge today shot up to 55 with 17 more fatalities reported from the affected districts overnight.

The situation showed signs of improvement with the State having a clear weather, but reports of flood—related deaths continued to pour in with official toll standing at 55 so far.

Flood in Krishna threatens to submerge AP villages

All that is left: The top of the bridge across the Tungabhadra near Gilkesugur village, 32 km from Raichur, was washed away in flash floods.

The Hindu Villagers being ferried to a rehabilitation centre at Thotlavalluru in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh on Saturday. Photo: C H Vijaya Bhaskar

River Krishna virtually turned into a sea in all its fury on Monday as a record 10.61 lakh cusecs of flood water reached Prakasam Barrage, threatening to submerge some villages.

This is the heaviest flood in river Krishna in more than 106 years as the previous record stands at 10.30 lakh cusecs in 1903, irrigation authorities said.

The water level touched 21.4 feet at Prakasam Barrage and all the 72 sluice gates have been lifted to let out water into Bay of Bengal.

They said said the current flood discharge at Nagarjuna Sagar has been reduced to 10.3 lakh cusescs from 11 lakh cusecs on Sunday.

The discharge is expected to remain constant at least in the next 24 hours and the outflow from Prakasam Barrage will also be around 10.5 lakh cusecs.

Chodavaram village on the downstream of Prakasam Barrage is facing a grave threat as flood water is about to submerge the entire village.

However, there is no threat to lives as villagers have already moved to relief camps.

Two more villages near Thotalvalluru also faced a severe threat as river embankment is found to be weak. Water seepage from the embankment in some places could lead to inundation of villages on the Krishna left bank.

Lakhs of sand bags are being dumped along the embankment at vulnerable points to prevent any breach, revenue officials said.

.Monsoon vigorous in Konkan, active in coastal A.P., Orissa

 

 

 

 

The southwest monsoon is vigorous in east Madhya Pradesh, Konkan, Goa, coastal Karnataka and Kerala and active in Orissa, central Maharashtra and coastal Andhra Pradesh, the Met office said on Saturday.

It has been subdued over Arunachal Pradesh, west Uttar Pradesh, Uttarkhand, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and Gujarat, it added