Road, communications cut off to villages along Godavari river

Road and communication network remained cut off to several villages along the Godavari river course in East and West Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh on Sunday due to increased flood flow.

More than 11 lakh cusecs of flood water was being discharged into the Bay of Bengal from the Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage at Dowaleswaram even as the first warning signal remained in place.

The State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) said the flood trend was 'rising' because of copious inflows from the upstream regions.

Over 19 submergence villages under the multipurpose Polavaram remained marooned and the road network cut off as the flood level touched 27.65 meters at the project site on Sunday evening.

State Disaster Response Force and Fire Services personnel have been deployed in the flood-hit areas to oversee rescue and relief operations.

A team of 30 NDRF personnel has also been mobilized at Rampachodavaram for the flood relief operations, the SDMA said.

According to SDMA ...