76 villages submerged in Godavari floods

Kothagudem: As many as 76 villages in the district were submerged as Godvari is again rising dangerously in Bhadrachalam and have touched 53 feet on Friday evening. The officials announced third warning level. The water level may touch 60 feet by Saturday afternoon due release of floodwater by the irrigation projects in upper catchment areas of the river.

Meanwhile, officials shifted 9,989 flood victims to 37 flood relief centres in 9 mandals. The flood has affected 76 villages under 55 revenue villages in 9 mandals.

It was observed that the floodwater was rising every slowly. The river water level was marked at 47 feet on Wednesday and it rose very slowly and it touched the third danger level on Friday.

The district administration alerted people on floods and opened the control rooms at Sub Collector Office and ITDA office. District Collector Priyanaka Ala is monitoring the situation. She directed officials to alert the people living in low-lying areas and immediately shift them to the relief centres. She said, two NDRF teams are ready to face any situation in the agency villages. She urged the people not to get panicked due to floods as government is all measures for their safety. She said, the government has allotted one helicopter for the emergency operation.

The roads were closed from the Bhadrachalam to all agency mandals as flood has inundated the Agency villages. Due to overflow of floodwater on the roads, the RTC has stopped their services for two days.