ADILABAD: The travails of thousands of people in over 20 villages of Tamsi, Jainad, Bela, Dahegaon and Sirpur (T) mandals, located on the banks of the Penganga on the Andhra Pradesh-Maharashtra border, was far from over as a state of high alert was sounded on Sunday afternoon.

The mighty river, which flooded these villages since Saturday night following heavy rain in the catchment areas in Maharashtra, will flow swollen even on Sunday night as huge quantity of water is scheduled to be discharged from the Isapur Upper Penganga Project in Yavatmal district.

Heavy vehicular traffic on NH-7 remained suspended since the wee hours of Sunday as the river is overflowing a 30-metre bridge. i

It is not likely to resume until Monday afternoon, according to officials who expect more water to be discharged into the river from projects in Maharashtra.

Godavari in spate

Vehicular traffic, which was disrupted at Wankidi low-level causeway on NH-7 on Friday, was restored on Saturday night. As water was discharged from the SRSP in Nizamabad, the Godavari flowed in spate even on Sunday.

This resulted in the Rayapatnam bridge overflowing, thereby holding up the traffic between Adilabad and Karimnagar.

The villages which remained cut off were Karanji, Gubdi and Arli in Tamsi mandal, Kamai, Pendalwada, Akoli, Nirala, Sangdi, Sangvi, Anandpur, Awalpur, Karanji, Kapri and Kouta in Jainad mandal, Majri and Bedoda in Bela mandal, Motlaguda and Rampur in Dahegaon mandal and Hudkili, Tonkini and Laxmipur in Sirpur (T) mandal.

Evacuated

Only 450 people from Kamai village were evacuated to the safety of nearby Gimma and Mandagadh villages on Sunday afternoon.

There was hardly any chance for relief to reach these villages with the high water levels serving as a deterrent. BejjurAsifabad Sub-Collector Bhaskar Katamneni said boats were pressed into service for people of Bejjur to cross the local rivers.

According to official figures, crops were damaged in over 13,000 acres while 48 houses were completely damaged.

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