4.5 lakh people affected by floods in Andhra Pradesh, 31,238 evacuated, toll reaches 16

Amaravati, September 2

Nearly 4.5 lakh people were affected by the unprecedented rainfall and floods in Andhra Pradesh over the past three days, leading to the evacuation of 31,238 people to 166 relief camps.

The most affected districts included NTR, Guntur, Krishna, Eluru, Palnadu, Bapatla and Prakasam, said an official press release on Monday.

Twenty SDRF and 19 NDRF teams are engaged in relief and rescue operations.

Two more SDRF and nine NDRF teams are en route to Vijayawada, the worst affected place in the southern state where rains and overflowing rivulets wreaked havoc.

As per the request of Guntur and NTR district administrations, the Indian Navy agreed to deploy two choppers for search and rescue operations in the affected areas; one of which has already arrived in Vijayawada, said the release.

The southern state also requested for six helicopters to airlift stranded people and drop food packets, along with 10 NDRF and 40 motor boats for search and rescue operations in the affected districts.

As many as 39 livestock, which include sheep and buffaloes, lost their lives in the state while 5,300 poultry birds died in Palnadu district.

Thirty-eight fishing boats were fully damaged or lost, six partially while 61 minor irrigation tanks suffered breaches in NTR district, four in Guntur and eight in Eluru.

Budameru, a rivulet on the outskirts of Vijayawada suffered breach at six places, one at Kavuluru and four in Santhinagar.

Three 33 kv electric poles were damaged in Guntur district and 12 sub-stations were affected.

Further, 1,067 km long roads were damaged, floodwater overflowed at 129 places, 20 trees were uprooted and the natural calamity caused 110 traffic interruptions.

Nearly 1.50 lakh hectares of agriculture crops were damaged in 20 districts, besides 13,920 hectares of horticultural crops.

Water supply was restored at Pedakakani in Guntur district after a summer storage tank was breached.

Meanwhile, Pulichintala project in Bapatla discharged 5.43 lakh cusecs of floodwaters by 8 am on Monday.

Under the Municipal Administration and Urban Development department, 180 areas were inundated across the state, while 286 km long roads were also damaged.

Likewise, 48.2 km long storm water drains and 6,901 street lights were damaged, along with five municipal school buildings and 21 km long water pipelines.

At Prakasam Barrage, 11.3 lakh cusecs of floodwaters were discharged by 8 am on Monday.

So far, 16 people have died in Andhra Pradesh due to rain-related incidents in the past three days, following unprecedented rainfall caused by a depression in the Bay of Bengal, the government said on Monday.

According to an official release, five people died at Mogalrajapuram in Vijayawada due to landslides and one person each at Vijayawada Rural, G Kondru mandal and Reddygudem mandal. They all belong to the NTR district.

“Five deaths in Guntur district. One teacher and two students travelling from Uppalapadu to Namburu were washed away in a local stream and an 80-year-old woman died when boulders fell on her in the first ward of Mangalagiri town,” the release said.

Further, it said that another person was washed away in Kondaveedu stream at Ponnekallu village in Guntur district.

Besides rain-related deaths, three children drowned in Prakasam district’s Markapuram division when they went swimming, the release said.