Srikakulam on edge as rains continue to lash

Srikakulam: Continuous rainfall was reported across the district on Monday under the influence of low pressure in the Bay of Bengal. Moderate to heavy rainfall is forecast for Tuesday too. An amount of 3,874 millimetre (mm) rainfall was recorded within 48 hours from Saturday evening to till Monday evening in the district.

Gotta barrage, MadduValasa reservoir, Narayanapuram anicut, Vamsadhara reservoir and other projects are receiving huge inflows. Nagavali and Vamsadhara rivers, their tributaries and rivulets are in spate, irrigation tanks and canals also received huge inflows.

District administration has been put on alert to mitigate damage. Special officers have been deployed for all 30 mandals in the district to monitor the flood situation and to mitigate rain related loss.

Fishermen were asked not to venture into the sea for fishing. District collector Swapnil Dinkar Pundkar directed all the heads of the departments to cancel the leaves and permissions to staff and asked them to deploy their employees to flood-related duties.

Control room continued to function at the collector’s office with land line number 08942-240557. District collector instructed the officials to post rain related photos on damage to the e-mail id: cosklmsupdtd@gmail.com.

Farmers are in worry over survival of the crops as the relentless rain is reported for more than 48 hours and paddy and other crops were submerged in the rainwater in several mandals as the rain water discharge mechanism was damaged due to negligence in maintenance of canals. Main roads and other internal roads were badly damaged due to rains and big potholes were formed on the busy roads causing concern among passengers. The damaged roads have verilyly affected the roads.