Vijayawada: VMC issues red alert, asks people in low-lying areas to shift as rains may swell Budameru

Vijayawada: Vijayawada Municipal Corporation has issued a red alert and asked people living in low-lying areas to move to safer places given the heavy rains in Andhra Pradesh.

Municipal Commissioner Dhyanachandra issued an alert as there is the possibility of flash floods. The people living in the low-lying areas around Budameru Rivulet have been asked to move to safer places. Those living in Gunadala and Singh Nagar areas have especially been asked to stay alert.

Budameru, a local rivulet that passes through Vijayawada city wreaked havoc, inundating swathes of the city and destroying everything in its path. Budameru is currently receiving inflows from the swollen Pulivagu rivulet, along with inflows from the Munneru rivulet in Telangana.

Water had started receding from roads in Vijayawada after nine days. There is about 2 ft of water on the roads in Vijayawada, and it is not reducing further due to continuous rain.

In flood-hit areas, out of 2 lakh houses, 1.4 lakh were single-floor residences, which suffered extensive damage. The number of deaths rose to 45 on Sunday.

Meanwhile, as several neighborhoods have become accessible, sanitation work is underway at a brisk pace. Over 6,000 workers from about eight districts have bolstered the local effort. So far, about 20,000 houses have been cleaned using fire engines and 42 drones have also been deployed for sanitation work.

IMD Alert

The India Meteorological Department forecast heavy rainfall at isolated places in nine districts of Andhra Pradesh and issued an orange alert in those districts. The weather department issued the alert to Eluru, Alluri Sitaramaraju (ASR), Parvatipuram Manyam, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, West Godavari, East Godavari, NTR and Krishna districts.

On Monday, the deep depression over northwest and adjoining west-central Bay of Bengal moved slowly north-northwestwards with a speed of 8 kmph during past 6 hours and lay centered over the same region near latitude 19.3°N and longitude 86.2°E, about 70 km southeast of Puri (Odisha), 140 km east of Gopalpur (Odisha), 120 km south-southwest of Paradip (Odisha), 170 km south-southwest of Chandbali (Odisha), 240 km east-northeast of Kalingapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and 290 km south-southwest of Digha (West Bengal).

It is very likely to move nearly northwestwards and cross the Odisha coast near Puri by September 9 at noon. Thereafter, it is very likely to move west-northwestwards across Odisha & Chhattisgarh during the subsequent 2 days.

Budameru breaches plugged

Two days ago, Budameru breaches were plugged and flood inflows to Vijayawada were reduced. Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu said the government was collecting data on rainfall for assessment and also clearing the blockades caused by the floods.

According to the CM, Irrigation Minister N Rama Naidu and Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Nara Lokesh have focused on this task for four days. Army teams worked in close coordination with the state machinery to plug the breaches.

Flood estimation begins

Meanwhile, the procedure of estimating flood losses in Vijayawada will begin on Monday.

Earlier, the state government sent its first report regarding the floods to the Centre and sought a relief of Rs 6,880 crore.