The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Evacuation gains momentum

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Sunday, Oct 04, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Evacuation gains momentum

K.N. Murali Sankar

Island villagers show initial reluctance to move out

Women offer puja to the ‘river goddess’ urging her to calm down
All island villages likely to be submerged, according to officials

THOTLAVALLURU (Krishna dist.): The evacuation of people of island villages in the Krishna gained momentum in all the low-lying mandals on Saturday as the discharge of flood water from the Prakasam Barrage increased steadily.

For the 3,785 residents of eight island villages of Thotlavalluru mandal, a country-made boat became the only mode of transportation to reach the world outside.

Relief camps

As many as five relief camps were arranged for the evacuees of these island villages, but the turnout was just 100 in the afternoon. Though the people were initially reluctant to leave the islands saying “we have seen many such floods in the past,” they were later convinced by the afternoon when the water level rose alarmingly.

“The present situation reminds me of the flood of 1998, when all the farm fields were submerged and it took three days for the water to recede,” recollected a 75-year-old Lanka Rama Rao, a farmer. He owns fertile farmlands in Pamullanka and Todelladibba islands, where he sowed sugarcane and turmeric.

Many villagers reached the banks of the Krishna to watch the river in spate even as women offered pujas to the river by leaving vermilion and turmeric into the water. It was to pray the fiery river goddess to calm down.

“Flood is not new to us. The officials and the police threatened us to vacate our houses. There is no hope about the standing crop. But, the officials did not give us time at least to pack up our belongings,” said Gunde Subbaiah, a farmer of Pamullanka. As most of the residents were reluctant to vacate their houses, the officials, as a last resort, disconnected power supply to the villages and took the help of the police to evacuate them.

“The water did not enter our village. But, the officials are saying there will be a sudden increase in the flood by this night. Though we thought of vacating our houses in the night, the officials asked us to vacate it right now, as the boat facility will not be available in the evening,” said Pamula Raghavamma, a resident of Pamullanka. Along with her relatives, who came from Hyderabad, she reached the relief camp arranged in the local high school.

Though the district administration announced that four power boats and 24 armed personnel would be deputed to Thotlavalluru to evacuate the residents of island villages, the local officials did not take the chance of waiting for them. They commenced the evacuation process with a country-made motor boat.

The official said all island villages were likely to be submerged either by Saturday night or early hours of Sunday, based on the quantum of discharge.

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