Evacuation of tribal people begins in Godavari Valley

The Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA-Chintoor) has begun the evacuation of the tribal people of Koyas and Konda Reddi clans inhabiting the Sabari river in the Chintoor Agency of the Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) district. River Sokileru and a stream, Cheekativaagu, are overflowing on the roads, leading to the cut-off of road links of the Koya tribal habitations with Chintoor town. 

By Sunday, July 21, the Koyas of the Sabari-Kothagudem village were evacuated as it would be the first village to be hit if the first Godavari flood warning was issued at Bhadrachalam in Telangana.

The Sabari-Kothagudem village sits on the edge where River Sabari joins the Godavari at Kunavaram in Chintoor Agency. Tractors have been deployed for the evacuation operation. 

At least 60 Koya families living by the Sokileru riverbanks have been shifted to Chintoor. By Sunday, as many as 149 relief camps have been set up to speed up the evacuation operation based on the flood situation. 

ITDA-Chintoor Project Officer Kavuri Chaitanya told The Hindu, “We have launched the evacuation operation in various villages along River Sabari as a further rise of the water level in the river is likely. The backwaters of the river flowing back to its streams snapped the road connectivity in many places.”

On the Andhra Pradesh-Chhattisgarh border, heavy vehicles are not being allowed as the Sabari is overflowing onto the road. On the Andhra Pradesh-Odisha border, the Kalleru-Motu road has been cut off as the road at Koyaguru village was snapped due to flood water. 

“All the schools will remain closed until further notice. The inmates of all the welfare hostels will be allowed to stay back as they may get stranded anywhere on their way to their villages due to flood,” said Mr. Chaitanya. He also said all 15 BSNL telephone towers and seven private telecommunication towers remained functional in the Agency. 

Konaseema

Above 7.72 lakh cusecs of flood water is being released into the Godavari Delta at Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage at Dowleswaram. The inflow of water continues rising. In an official release, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Konaseema District Collector R. Mahesh Kumar said that the officials were prepared for the evacuation operation once the first Godavari flood warning was issued at Dowleswaram. At 10 lakh cusecs inflow, the first Godavari flood warning will be issued at Dowleswaram.