Central government teams to tour flood-hit districts from tomorrow

Vijayawada: Two inter-ministerial teams of the Central government will on Wednesday and Thursday tour Alluri Sitarama Raju, Eluru, and B R Ambedkar Konaseema districts to assess the flood-related damage. The districts were recently hit by the flood in River Godavari. The state government is yet to prepare a detailed estimate of the damage caused by the flood.

"The Chief Minister's Office is drafting a report," a senior official said on Monday. The flood peaked to a record 25.80 lakh cusecs and affected normal life. B R Ambedkar Konaseema, ASR, Eluru, West Godavari and East Godavari districts were affected for over a fortnight in July.

Over two lakh people had to be lodged in rehabilitation centres as their habitations were inundated. According to the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA), seven people were killed in the flood in three districts. As per preliminary estimates, agricultural crops in about 3,500 hectare and horticultural crops in over 8,700 hectare suffered damage.

Roads to a length of 556 km were also damaged. SDMA managing director B R Ambedkar said in a release on Monday that the six-member Central team would be led by Ravinesh Kumar, financial advisor (NDMA) in the Union ministry of home affairs.

While one team would visit Alluri Sitarama Raju district on August 10, another would tour Eluru district. On August 11, the teams would visit B R Ambedkar Konaseema district and assess the flood damage. The teams would meet Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on the evening of August 11, according to Ambedkar.