Andhra Pradesh News: Godavari is rising continuously with rainfall in catchment areas

Vijayawada. Vijayawada: The water level of the Godavari river is constantly rising due to the arrival of about 10,000 cusecs of water from Bhadrachalam and rains in its catchment areas. The flood season in Godavari begins in July and continues till October, so the Water Resources Department has taken necessary steps like identifying vulnerable flood banks on the right and left banks of the river from Polavaram downstream till the river merges into the sea by building tributaries at four places – Yanam, Coringa in Kakinada, Antarvedi and Narasapuram.

The officials recently held a preparedness meeting to take feedback from the engineers in charge of flood banks about their condition to find out whether they are weak or not and whether any work is required to strengthen them. Accordingly, flood relief materials like sandbags, casuarina stumps, etc. will be procured. Officials say a meeting was held recently and they are working on preparing a flood manual and ways to deal with any crisis like heavy flood situation and avoid breaches by keeping a close watch on dams. They are also alerting local revenue officials to evacuate people living in vulnerable areas, including villages and islands. The standard protocol to deal with flood situations in the Godavari river is that if 10 lakh cusecs of water is released from the Sir Arthur Cotton barrage at Dowleswaram, the first flood warning will be issued. If the water level rises further and 13 lakh cusecs of water is released, the second flood warning will be issued. If the water level rises to 17 lakh cusecs, the final and third warning will be issued. Godavari Head Works Superintending Engineer Srinivas Rao said, “At present, we are getting about 8,000 cusecs of water from Badrachalam and some quantity from local harvests. If rains continue in the river catchment areas, the water level will rise further. We are prepared to deal with any flood situation in the river.” In view of the rising water level in the Godavari river and bad weather conditions, the operation of tourist boats on the Godavari river was suspended from June 26. As a precautionary measure, the operation of boats carrying tourists from Gandi Posamma Ferry Point to Papikondalu was stopped. However, the sub-collector has allowed the operation of boats with certain conditions from June 29.