The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Palemvagu dam breaches again

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Tuesday, Aug 05, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Palemvagu dam breaches again

Staff Reporter

Fifteen villages marooned, residents of seven villages evacuated

Rain wrath: The Palemvagu dam in Khammam district which breached on Monday.

KHAMMAM: For the second time in two years, the Palemvagu dam in Khammam district, built at a cost of Rs. 71 crore across the Palemvagu, a minor tributary of the Godavari, developed a huge breach forcing some 550 families in several villages to be hastily evacuated.

Officials noticed water leaking from the dam constructed across the forest stream at Mallapuram in Venkatapuram Mandal on Sunday itself but did not have the time to attend to it. Around 7 a.m. on Monday, there was a huge breach on the structure.

Crop area sand cast

They immediately evacuated all the families from seven villages in Bhadrachalam division before the flash floods could play havoc. The gushing waters left some 2000 acres of crop area sand cast.

As the swirling waters entered the houses, the residents Rachupalli, Karivaniguppa and Lakshmipuram scaled a nearby hillock – Koppugutta -- and saved their lives. Officials also plunged into action and deployed tractors and lorries to shift the tribal families from the marooned villages to safety. A majority of the affected families were taken to relief camps opened at Venkatapuram and Rangarajapuram villages.

Officials said that the flood water entered some 15 villages downstream. Water started receding from 2 p.m. following which most families began returning to their villages.

The project was expected to be completed by March 2007 but a major part of the canal work is still in progress. Reports said the flood discharge from the spillway was over one lakh cusecs, but the project was not designed to handle such a volume of water.

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