Title - Floods threaten Eluru, Vijayawada

Long after it has crossed the coast, cyclone Nilam continues to make its impact felt as torrential rainfall under its influence threatens to inundate outlying areas of two cities – Vijayawada and Eluru – in Andhra Pradesh.

Vijayawada received 17 cm of rain since Friday evening, constituting nearly 20 per cent of its annual rainfall. This has forced the authorities to suspend train and bus services.

Flood waters entered Vidhyadharapuram, HB Colony and Kabela in Vijayawada. Although the rain had stopped, water did not recede as Budameru, a stream, was discharging 8,000 cusecs of water. Drains in Vijayawada that empty into Budameru were blocked due to silting. Municipal Commissioner G. Bhaskar said that many areas in One Town were inundated as garbage had blocked the drains.

All the 70 gates of Prakasam Barrage across the Krishna were lifted and 49,000 cusecs of water was being discharged in the morning. The flow, however, came down to 29,000 cusecs by noon.

The threat of floods from Tammileru looms over Eluru and its surrounding areas forcing the district administration to requisition special rescue teams from the Eastern Naval Command at Visakhapatnam and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) at Mangalagiri. Collector G. Vanimohan told reporters here on Saturday that rescue teams of NDRF were expected to reach the city by evening. People from low-lying areas were being shifted as a precautionary measure.

Meanwhile, the causeways across the Tammileru connecting the city at three points were closed for traffic since last night. Ms. Vanimohan said the flood situation may worsen by evening when water from Nagireddygudem reservoir and the catchment areas of Krishna were expected to the reach the city. Efforts were on to breach the river at two points to let out the flood water into the Upputeru creek so that it bypasses the city.

The Collector said the inflows from Nagireddygudem reservoir were likely to go up to 25,000-30,000 cusecs, unprecedented in the history of the Tammileru, by midnight.

Meanwhile, the Vijayawada Railway Division has cancelled some trains and diverted others via Guntur-Bibinagar as tracks were inundated between Kondapalli and Madhira. Trains diverted included: Train No. 12763 Tirupati-Secunderabad Padmavati Express is diverted to run via Tenali– Guntur –Nadikudi-Bibinagar.

Train No.12759 Chennai-Hyderabad Charminar Express is diverted to run via Tenali– Guntur –Nadikudi-Bibinagar. Train No. 12709 Gudur-Secunderabad Simhapuri Express is diverted to run via Tenali– Guntur –Nadikudi-Bibinagar. Train No. 12296 Patna-Banglore Sangamitra Express is diverted to run via Kazipet, Secunderabad, Raichur, Guntakal, Dharmavaram

Train No. 12296 Patna-Banglore Sangamitra Express has been diverted to run via Secunderabad, Kurnool Town, Dhone, Gooty and Dronachellam. Trains Cancelled on November 3 include- Train No. 57237 Kazipet-Vijayawada Passenger; Train No. 57238 Vijayawada-Kazipet Passenger; Train No. 57254 Vijayawada-Bhadrachalam Road Passenger; Train No. 57253 Bhadrachalam Road-Vijayawada Passenger; Train No. 67269 Kazipet-Dornakal Passenger; Train No. 67271 Dornakal-Vijayawada Passenger; Train No. 67273 Vijayawada-Guntur Passenger; Train No. 67274 Guntur-Vijayawada Passenger.