At least 80 pregnant women have been shifted to government hospitals from the Polavaram project submergence areas, which have been affected by the Godavari flood in the Agency of the Alluri Sitaramaraju (ASR) district. In Chintoor Agency alone, 63 habitations have been hit by flood along the banks of Sabari and Godavari rivers.
“We evacuated and admitted at least 80 pregnant women to the nearby Community Health Centres in the Agency to ensure timely medical care”, ASR District Joint Collector G. Ganore said. About 100 personnel of State Disaster Response Force and National Disaster Response Force had arrived for relief operations, he said.
“Over 3,800 people affected by the flood have been evacuated to the relief camp at V.R. Puram by Monday evening. The evacuation operation remains in progress. A final estimate is yet to be arrived at on the number of people required to be evacuated, based on the flood situation by Tuesday,” Project Officer (ITDA-Chintoor) K. Rama Seshu said.
Relief camps
In Chintoor Agency, three relief camps had been set up and essential commodities were being supplied to those who chose to stay back in the villages falling in the submergence areas.
The Konaseema district authorities began evacuating vulnerable people, particularly elderly and pregnant women, from the 30 islands of river Godavari.
“We are prepared to tackle the flood in district when the inflow reaches 10 lakh cusecs. A team of SRDF team has also arrived, and boats are being plied to supply commodities in the islands”, District Collector Himanshu Shukla said.
Evacuation of people commenced in the 30 islands of river Godavari in Konaseema district. The islands fall in the Eastern and Central deltas that are most vulnerable to floods.
Polavaram Irrigation Project Chief Engineer B. Sudhakar Babu said flood water would not be stored at the project, from where the entire 27 tmcft inflow from Maharastra in recent days was being released into the sea.
As a consequence, Sir Arthur Cotton barrage would be expected to receive the inflow of above 10 lakh cusecs of flood water by Tuesday, causing flooding downstream of the barrage in the district.
