Floods Hit Andhra Pradesh And Karnataka

Posted on 05. Oct, 2009 by Sudheer Ranga in News.

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We all know how suffering it becomes when it doesn’t rain and when it does, we thank God because it rained. But, imagine how bad would it be if it didn’t stop even after heavy showers for 4-5 days continuously. This is what that’s been happining in some parts of Karnataka & Andhra Pradesh. Though many parts of Karnataka are safe, but still these parts are receiving heavy rains.

Kurnool (Photo Credit: Rediff.com)

Due to heavy rains, people in Karnataka & Andhra Pradesh are facing severe problems from past 3 to 4 days. This year’s rains have broken the 100 year old record of floods in Karnataka & Andhra Pradesh, claiming over hundreds of lives and several thousands have become homeless and many others are found to be missing. Karnataka reported 170 deaths and where as the death toll in Andhra Pradesh was 57, Overall 227 deaths have been reported in south India and over 800 people have gone missing. Officials say that the numbers might increase.

(Sri Suyateendra Teertha Swami of Mantralaya being rescued by a helicopter) (photo credit: www.mangalorean.com)

Government is trying hard to help people and is taking required measures. As of now Five lakh people have been moved to safe places. Massive rescue and relief operation are underway in the affected areas with 7 helicopters, 550 army personnel, 165 personnel of National Disaster Response Force and 138 boats pressed into service. Indian Air Force has provided 13 Choppers and 4 planes for the rescue job. But, they have carried out just 60 short return trips mainly due to bad weather conditions and refueling glitches. Army helicopters dropped thousands of food packets to the Marooned (moved to safety) people in the two states.

Here’s a list of the places affected by the heavy rains and floods.

Andhra Pradesh :

(photo credit: www.wikipedia.org)

Mantralayam, Kurnool, Cuddapah & Mahbubnagar were the worst affected places. The officials said that Guntur, Nalgonda & Krishna district’s were under danger. Mantralayam, a popular pilgrim center has been drowned. As the flood water level decreased, 4 bodies were found stuck in the bushes and on the road sides. According to reports, many villages have been completely washed out and hundreds of houses were flattened. At some places, the bodies were trapped under the rubble. Srisailam, Nagarjuna Sagar and Prakasham Barrage projects, the dams constructed on river Krishna, the biggest river of Andhra has broken all the past records of maximum inflows as it touched a whopping 25 lakh cusecs of water at Srisailam dam in Kurnool. The inflow was 25 lakh cusecs and discharge was 14.2 lakh cusecs which is an all-time record, said Andhra Pradesh’s chief minister Rosaiah. He pointed out that the previous highest inflow into the dam was 9.7 lakh cusecs in 1967 .

(Flooded kurnool) (photo credit: www.rediff.com)

Now, the focus is also on Vijaywada, the commercial capital of Andhra Pradesh where the civil administration with the help of police and army was busy evacuating people from low lying areas as the water level in Krishna was rising menacingly. Opposition leader N Chandrababu Naidu appealed to the Central Government to declare it as a ‘National Emergency’. He told in a news conference held in Hyderabad that “Never in the past any state in the country had faced such a disastrous situation as thousands of people were stranded with out food and drinking water due to the floods for the last four days“. Rosaiah said the situation improved with water levels receding, colonies continued to be inundated and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi is likely to go on an aerial visit of Kurnool and Mahbubnagar districts. Karnataka state:

(photo credit: www.wikipedia.org)

Bijapur, Raichur, Koppala, Bellary, Bagalkote, Gulbarga, Davangere, Uttara kannada, Bidar and Belgaum are the worst hit places. The highest number of deaths were registered in Bijapur where the toll was 28 and the rest are Raichur (19), Koppal (18), Bagalkote & Gulbarga (13 each), Davangere (9), Uttarakand (5), Gadag (7), Bellary (9), Bidar (4) and Belgaum (7) from Sept 28 to October 3. The state disaster monitoring authority secretary H.V. Parashwanath told IANS “Since 11 a.m. today (Saturday), the water level in many areas has started receding. People who had taken refuge on rooftops can now come down.” “Six helicopters and 40 boats were engaged in rescue operations in the worst affected districts of Bijapur, Bellary, Raichur, Gadag and Bagalkot” he said. Karnataka Chief-Minister B. S. Yeddyurappa took an ariel view of the affected places. Chief minister wrote a letter to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh requesting that this should be declared as a National Calamity. The letter also demands a sum of Rs. 10,000 crore from the center as a special relief & rehabilitation fund.

(Flooded road in Bijapur) (photo credit: www.rediff.com)

Floods affected the transportation too. Hundreds of passengers were forced to stay back as most of the buses and trains were canceled. The officials said in Andhra Pradesh that over 300 buses were canceled on Hyderabad-Kurnool and Hyderabad-Mantralayam routes. 18 trains have been canceled by south central railway and 29 trains have been diverted due to overflowing of water on two bridges, one between Guntkal, Wadi near Mantralayam and Raichur on Guntkal division, and the other Tungabhadra bridge on Hyderabad division between Alampur and Kurnool town.

These floods are said to be the worst in past 100 years which have left a trail of destruction estimated to Rs. 12,225 crores. K Rosaiah said that the loss of infrastructure was estimated to be around Rs. 10,000 crores, damage to crops was estimated at Rs.1,005 crores and destruction to houses at Rs.300 crore. Dairy sector suffered a loss of Rs.270 crores and fisheries Rs.100 crores.

Tags: Floods