The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Floods cause widespread damage

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Wednesday, Aug 06, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Floods cause widespread damage

Staff Reporter

Roads, power affected; 15,000 acres of crops damaged

Watery expanse: Houses that were built on the bed of the ‘bada talab’ tank were partially submerged in Kolipura locality in Adilabad on Tuesday.

ADILABAD: Naidi Bheema Lingu, a sixth standard student of Kuntala Ashrama School was washed away in a flood in Nagamalyalavagu in Neredigonda mandal on Tuesday. Lingu was returning to school from his home in Peesara village when he slipped while crossing the stream.

Power supply to all the villages in Talamadugu and Tamsi mandals remained cut off even on Tuesday because of damage to the 33 KV lines in four sub-stations. Elsewhere, like in Adilabad mandal, power supply was affected due to damage to transformers or fallen poles.

Roads and bridges were damaged at many places though, causing some areas like Bejjur and Koutala mandal headquarters to remain cut off.

At Kadem, the inflows decreased considerably and only two of its gates were opened to give a discharge of 16,000 cusecs. Two gates were also opened at Satnala project and 3,500 cusecs of water was being discharged from it.

The Tatichettu Orre was overflowing on the bridge that connects Sirpur (T) with Koutala for most part of the day because of which traffic flow was hampered. As the Pranahita river was in spate, a few villages were affected on its banks. Crops in villages like Tumdi Heti and Lambadi tanda on the Pranahita banks were lost due to inundation.

Flow of traffic was also affected for some time on the Gudihatnoor-Indervelli road as water from an overflowing Trivenivagu project near Mutnoor breached the retaining walls on its downstream and flooded the roadThough proper enumeration of crop and property loss is underway it can be said that damage to crop will be about 15,000 acres mostly in those villages that border the rivers that were in spate. The number of houses that have suffered partial or full damage due to the heavy rainfall is estimated to be about 5,000. Meanwhile, residents of Kolipura who built houses on the bed of the Bada talab tank had a harrowing time as water flooded into their homes.

A relief camp was organised by the administration for the families from Ranadivenagar, Gandhinagar, Subhashnagar and adjoining localities in Adilabad that had lost their homes in Monday’s floods.

Some other flood affected families however, staged a rasta roko on NH 7 demanding immediate relief. People who had lost property from Ramnagar gheraoed Collector Ahmad Nadeem while he was on a visit to the affected areas.

Ex-gratia sought

The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) on Tuesday demanded Rs. 5 lakh as ex gratia to each of the persons who was washed away in the flash floods on Monday and Tuesday. The party also demanded compensation at the rate of Rs. 10,000 per acre of crop lost and an additional Rs. 10,000 per acre where the floods left sand deposits.

At a press conference here TRS leader and former ZP chairperson Ch. Suhasini Reddy and others wanted the Government to release rations for one full month for the families who were affected in the floods besides a financial assistance of Rs. 10,000.

They demanded compensation for animals lost too.

Body recovered

Karimnagar Staff Reporter writes: The Dharmapuri police retrieved the body of a woman, who was washed away in the flash floods from Jaina village of Dharmapuri mandal on Monday morning, on the shores of Rayapatnam bridge, which connects Karimnagar and Adilabad districts on Tuesday.

It may be recalled that three persons including two women and a nine-year-old boy washed away in the flash floods at Jaina village of Dharmapuri mandal on Monday. The police have launched manhunt to retrieve the bodies of remaining persons.

Minister for Endowments J. Ratnakara Rao visited Rayapatnam bridge and consoled the bereaved family members. He also handed immediate assistance of Rs. 5,000 to the bereaved family for the conduct of funeral P Laxmi.

He assured to release Rs. 50,000 under the Apathbandu scheme and another Rs. 50,000 from the Chief Minister’s relief fund. He also assured to provide suitable assistance to the minor boy, who also washed away in the floods along with the women from Jaina village of Dharmapuri mandal.

The Minister instructed the officials to closely monitor the flood situation along the shores of river Godavari by alerting the villagers of adjoining villages.

He informed the officials to take measures to avoid the entry of devotees’ into the river waters for bathing during the rainy season.

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