Hyderabad, OCtober 08: Vijayawada and seven neighbouring villages still have a flood threat from the furious Krishna even as Kurnool is struggling to return to normalcy. The inflows into Prakasam barrage declined to 6.25 lakh cusecs at 6 p.m. on Wednesday against 11.3 lakh cusecs at the same time yesterday, but the flood alert for Vijayawada has been put at danger level. The officials said that the threat will subside by tomorrow.
Speaking to mediapersons here today, Revenue Minister D Prasada Rao said that the inflows into Srisailam reservoir, Nagarjuna Sagar project and Prakasam barrage are receding and were recorded as 6.8, 5.5 and 6.25 lakh cusecs respectively at 6 p.m.today. The irrigation officials have already started filling the breaches along the Krishna river at Oleru, Penumudi, Beechpally, and several other places.
Repairs to several breaches have been taken up for Sunkesula, KC Canal, Gajuladinne, Hundi, and Palamaneru projects.
Meanwhile relief and restoration activities in Kurnool are being taken up on a war-footing.
However, the residents will have to suffer the mounds of mud and silt for another two-three days and wait for things to return to normal. To clear the debris and silt, about 20 JCB machines have been pressed into service in Kurnool town along with about 2,000 sanitation workers from nearby municipalities. About 32 fire tenders apart from large number of water tankers were deployed for cleaning the silt and also supply safe drinking water for the residents.
Admitting that the cleaning work is disturbed at several places, Municipal Administration Minister A Ramanarayana Reddy said that the officials are finding it difficult to clear huge mounds of silt formed in bylanes as JCB machines cannot enter such small bylanes and it is turning out to be a hard task for labourers to clear it. The officials are supplying about 60,000 medical kits to be distributed in each household as a precautionary measure to prevent spread of diseases.
The power supply will be restored completely in Kurnool and Mahaboobnagar within the next 48 hours.
The officials informed that six major substations along with 96 33 KV substations, five towers, and 349 feeders apart from power lines of 176 km length were damaged in the flood-hit districts.
Meanwhile, traffic has been streamlined on the National Highway-7 (NH-7) between Hyderabad and Kurnool. Efforts are on to restore traffic on NH-9 connecting Hyderabad and Vijayawada by tomorrow.
–Agencies–