Guntur: 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.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, October 06, 2009, 19:42