Floods submerge Ramalingeswara Nagar in Vijayawada

Vijayawada: Hundreds of houses were inundated in floodwaters in Ramalingeswara Nagar in Krishna riverbed on Saturday. The district administration has pressed into service four rubber inflated boats to evacuate the residents, who were struck in floodwaters.

Due to discharge of floodwaters from the Prakasam barrage, the water entered the colony inundating makeshift homes and thatched houses. Due to breach developed to outfall drain located near the retaining wall, the floodwaters entered low-lying areas of Ramalingeswara Nagar in the riverbed.

Noticing the flood waters, the residents immediately shifted their belongings to safer places and moved to upper portions of buildings. Till Friday night, the floodwater not reached Ramalingeswara Nagar.

Due to breach developed to outfall drain, the floodwater entered the colony on Saturday morning. NDRF and SDRF pressed into service two boats each and asking the residents to move to rehabilitation centres at Indira Gandhi Municipal Corporation Stadium.

Unaware of sudden rise of floodwater, some residents left their belongings at the home and moved to safer places. However, no loss of life has been reported as the people moved to second and third floors of the buildings.

Ministers Perni Nani, Kodali Venkateswara Rao, Velampalli Srinivas, Collector Md Imtiaz visited the Ramalingeswara Nagar Colony and spoke to flood affected people. East MLA Gadde Rammohan underlined the need to plug the gap for the outfall drain.

Collector Md Imtiaz spoke to residents and asked them to move to the safer places. He said about 200 families were affected due to the floods in Ramalingeswara Nagar and added the residents were not coming forward to leave their homes and stay in the rehabilitation centre for two or three days.

Most residents were not willing to leave their homes because of fear of burglary, he pointed out. Taking advantage of the situation, some criminals may break into houses and rob the valuables.