ANANTAPUR: More than half of Anantapur city along with its outskirts was under severe threat of flooding amid the incessant rains and overflowing of canals while road access remained snapped here since Tuesday.
Incessant rains on Wednesday flooded more areas, inundating residential colonies and low-lying areas. Police teams rescued 11 members of a family by shifting them by boat at the Gowrav Gardens area.
Tens of hundreds of families faced huge loss after floodwaters entered houses and grocery shops. Valuables of some families and stocks in shops were washed away in the floods. The situation was severe with incessant rains adding to the flows from the upstream parts of Anantapur headquarters, where at least five irrigation tanks were overflowing. Floodwater inundated residential areas.
The Amalur tank got breached and floodwater rushed into Anantapur city.
To facilitate water flow, the angry public demolished an illicit construction at Chandrababu Colony, set up by a YSRC leader. The construction of a big wall with an encroachment of 80ft width of the canal led to inundation of the colony, and the people got extremely angry over the resultant flooding.
Rudrampet, Viswasanthi Nagar, Rajaka Colony, Gowrav Gardens and 5th Road areas were in panic after floodwater entered the houses to a height of 4ft.
The Nadmi Vanka canal passes through the heart of the city, alongside its connectivity with rural mandal areas on the outskirts of Anantapur and it is connected with the Rapthadu mandal tanks and canals.
Nadmivi Vanka was overflowing and crossed the danger marks in Rangaswamy Nagar, Somanath Nagar and clock tower areas. Encroachments resulted in submergence of fields enroute to the Gooty Road area.
Many families vacated the GR colony and took shelter in their relatives’ houses. Ramana, a resident of GR Colony, broke into tears, saying he lost all his household articles. “We have no way to cook food as our rice bags got damaged,” he lamented.
Physically challenged Lakshmamma of GR Colony said many were rescued or have jumped a big wall after floodwaters entered the locality. A widow from Chandrababu Kottala recalled that her husband was washed away in the floods a year ago but no compensation was given by the government. Now, she was struggling with a worse situation along with her two kids. Janardhan of Kodimi colony had incurred losses after the household articles were damaged.
Anantapur DSP Srinivasulu led rescue operations in the flood-hit areas. As heavy rains lashed the city in the past two days, floodwater levels were rising. The Fourth Town police rescued 30 students from a hostel in Vikalangula Kottala by a bus. Tractors were being used to shift families to rehabilitation centres from nearby colonies.
Road connectivity was cut to many areas from here due to the overflowing of floodwater to the main roads at Somanath Nagar, Rudrampet, 5th Road areas.
The BK Samudram and Singanamala tanks were overflowing at 4ft level while the Anantapur- Tadipathri, Singanamala road was closed. The BK Samudram tank closer to Anantapur was facing a threat due to the poor strength of the bunds.
Urban MLA Ananta Venkatrami Reddy went around the flood-hit areas and urged the AMC and revenue authorities to clear all encroachments of Nadimi Vanka. The authorities meanwhile sounded an alert about more rains in the next two days and advised the people in the low-lying areas to evacuate to safe locations.
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