East Godavari district in grip of panic

• Village Revenue Assistant dies of snake bite
• One person drowns
• Godavari bunds vulnerable

Rajahmundry : The flood situation in East Godavari turned alarming on Sunday as the raging Godavari inundated dozens of villages. People living in more than 50 Lanka villages in Konaseema are in the grip of fear as water level increased menacingly during the last 24 hours. More than 1.31 lakh people were affected due to the floods in 52 Lanka villages in Konaseema. The Revenue staff is supplying food, water, kerosene and other essential commodities by boats to the people stranded in villages where water level is too high.

A Village Revenue Assistant of Appanapalli village of Mamidikuduru mandal died due to snake bite while on flood relief duty. Akumarthi Narasimha Murthy (50) was bitten by a snake while evacuating the flood victims to safer places. Another person, Gollapalli Musalayya (50) drowned in flood water in Kamini panchayat of Mummidivaram mandal on Sunday.

In Devipatnam mandal of Rampachodavaram division, dozens of villages are cut off following heavy floods. Several villages have been submerged in Devipatnam mandal forcing the residents to desert their houses. The Revenue officials arranged boats to evacuate people from the villages. The water level at Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage in Dowlaiswaram touched 19 feet by Sunday evening. About 21.2 lakh cusecs of water was released into sea. The water level is likely to be stable for some more time and likely to recede by Monday morning.

Amalapuram RDO Sampath Kumar said several villages were badly affected by floods in Konaseema. The Revenue officials have been transporting food and drinking water to the affected people, braving strong currents in marooned villages. He claimed that no case of any disease was reported due to the efforts of officials even though Lanka villages remained submerged since July 19 except for three days.

The RDO said that four villages were submerged due to breaking of a sluice in Kothalanka village. He said P Gannavaram was the most affected village. The Godavari bunds were vulnerable at Kesanakurru (I Polavaram mandal), Pedalanka, Pallivari Palem (Mummidivaram) and Pasarlapudi (Mamidi kuduru). Efforts were on to arrest any possible leaks.

Godavari level at Bhadrachalam receding
The flood fury in Bhadrachalam declined on Sunday as the water level in the River Godavari has been coming down from 60 feet at 6 am to 58 feet by evening. However, the third flood warning signal is still on. The Central Water Commission officials said with a fall in the inflows from the upstream areas in Maharashtra and rains stopping the floods may recede.

Car washed away; 3 feared drowned

Karimnagar: An Indica car was washed away in Kakatiya canal after it accidentally fell in the water near Eedugutkapalli of Manakondur mandal in Karimnagar district on Sunday evening. According to the eyewitnesses, the speeding car coming from Warangal overturned in the canal when its driver tried to avoid hitting a bike. Around three persons were reportedly travelling in the car when the mishap occurred.

The vehicle was washed away in a short time due to strong current in the canal giving no scope to the passengers to escape. The police, who launched a search operation, could not trace the car and its passengers due to heavy flow in the canal. After knowing about the incident, authorities of Sriramsagar Project stopped water release to the canal. The police said that water flow in the canal would recede by Monday morning and they would resume the search operation.

Two youngsters from West Godavari swept away in sea

Rajahmundry (PTI): Two students from West Godavari district were washed away in sea at Antarvedi in East Godavari district, police said on Sunday. The incident occurred last night when Vasant Krishna Kumar (22) and M Durga Prasad (22) were playing on the beach along with their friends. The youngsters were playing with a coconut when it landed in sea, police said.

When Kumar and Prasad ventured into sea to retrieve out the coconut they were swept away by huge waves, they said. A search is launched to trace the duo, police said.