Flood situation still grim at Dowleswaram

• Water flow into Godavari steady
• Some villages in Devipatnam mandal remain cut off
• Medical teams rushed to affected villages

Rajahmundry: Flood situation in the East Godavari district is stable as the water flow into river Godavari is steady since Saturday night. Even though water level started to recede at Bhadrachalam, the water has not started receding at Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage at Dowleswaram on Sunday. But the water flow is steady and there is an indication that water will start to recede from Monday. But, the situation might change if it rained again.

The water level at Dowleswaram was 16.9 feet by Sunday evening and 17.80 lakh cusecs were being discharged into the sea. The water level was 55.5 feet at Bhadrachalam. The inflows from Sabari and Koida are also receding and only 50,000 cusecs are coming from both.

In Rampachodavaram division, some villages in Devipatnam mandal have been cut off from the rest of the world. Medical teams have been sent to the affected villages. Meanwhile, the State election commission issued directions by re-notifying the first phase of elections from July 23rd to July 31st in the third phase in six villages in Rampachodavaram division that were affected by floods and heavy rains.

Special flood officer to East Godavari district M Ravichandra said that lanka villages were affected by floods. He said that the affected people have been shifted to the relief camps. He said the district machinery could deal with this scale of floods. Boats have been arranged wherever necessary to rescue people and so far no deaths were reported in the district, he said.

According to him, the intensity of floods this year is much lesser than previous floods. He expressed hope that the district machinery could handle the situation effectively. Ravichandra, along with East Godavari District Collector Ms Neetu Prasad, visited several flood affected villages in the district and monitored the situation.