Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy reviews flood situation as several villages still inundated

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Amaravati: After touching a peak of 22.90 lakh cusecs on Tuesday (August 18, 2020) morning, the flood in Godavari river eased a little with the flow dwindling to 22.40 lakh cusecs by afternoon, but tens of villages in East and West Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh still remained inundated.

The flood flow is expected to further decline as the water level at upstream Bhadrachalam fell by over six feet on Tuesday after touching a high of 61 feet on Monday.

Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who reviewed the situation, directed the Collectors of the two districts to immediately distribute Rs 2,000 each to the flood-hit families.

The State Disaster Management Authority has asked people to remain cautious as the third warning signal continued at Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage at Dowaleswaram near Rajamahendravaram.

In East Godavari district, 95 relief camps have been opened where 14,477 people have been accommodated from flood-hit villages.

In all, 147 villages under 23 revenue mandals in the district remained marooned due to the deluge, according to the district Collector Muralidhar Reddy.

Standing paddy crop in over 2,385 hectares was inundated in the district while cotton in 225 ha and horticulture crops in over 5,000 ha were also affected.

Full-scale enumeration of the damage would be undertaken after the flood recedes.

In the neighbouring West Godavari, 55 villages under three mandals were still facing the flood fury.

Vasishta Godavari, a tributary of the perennial river, was in spate, cutting off road communication network.

Nine relief camps were continuing in the district where about 2,000 people were provided shelter after they were evacuated from the flood-affected villages, according to a Joint Collector.

On river Krishna, the Srisailam reservoir received an inflow of 2.81 lakh cusecs on Tuesday morning of which 63,947 cusecs was discharged downstream.

Nagarjuna Sagar received 40,259 cusecs and Pulichintala 27,322 cusecs but discharges from these two projects have not yet begun as they still have a large flood cushion.

Flood discharge from Muniyeru rivulet also dropped on Tuesday to about 70,000 cusecs.

Though the Prakasam Barrage downstream at Vijayawada received an inflow of 1.29 lakh cusecs, only 1.08 lakh cusecs was being let out into the sea.