Hyderabad
For 37-year-old Korrapati Giri Prasad, a priest in Paleshwaram temple of Lord Siva at Mandapalli village of Rajampet block in Andhra Pradesh’s Annamayya district, life has by no means been the identical within the final one 12 months.
It was on this present day final 12 months, Prasad misplaced 9 members of his household — his spouse, two daughters and a son, in addition to his sister and her two kids, his sister-in-law and her daughter, who have been swept away by the swirling waters of Cheyyeru river following breach of the reservoir bund of Annamayya medium irrigation mission, about three kilometres away.
“All of it occurred in a matter of 10 minutes. There was nothing I may do at the moment, besides saving myself by climbing atop the “gopuram” (dome) of the temple, watching my members of the family being swept away the large flood waters,” Prasad mentioned.
Prasad and his members of the family got here to the temple complicated as early as 5 am on November 19, which occurred to be Karthika Pournami, an auspicious day for worshipping Lord Siva. “Whereas I used to be making preparations for the abhishekam (anointment) of the Lord at Kanyashwara, others have been within the adjoining temples of Lord Ganesha and Lord Subrahmanyam inside the premises,” he recalled.
From nowhere, there was a sudden gush of flood water coming into Mandapalli village and swept the whole space. “In actual fact, the temple is situated at the next gradient, not less than about 60 ft. But, the whole temple complicated was flooded with water. All people tried to himself and herself, however not all have been fortunate. A lot of them bought washed away,” Prasad mentioned.
Prasad’s father Korrapati Rammurthy, his brother Mallikarjuna and nephew Hemanth, who stayed again within the village, managed to outlive by transferring atop the terrace of their home. “Nothing was left. All of the family articles, meals and furnishings bought washed away within the flash floods,” he mentioned.
Initially, there was no hint of Prasad’s members of the family and the authorities declared that the whereabouts of 15 folks weren’t recognized. “However 5 days later, the our bodies of my members of the family have been situated at totally different locations, about 5 to 6 km downstream, in a extremely decomposed situation. They have been handed over to us later after autopsy,” Prasad mentioned.
“Since then, I’ve been simply surviving like a dwelling corpse. I’m looking for solace in worshipping Lord Siva,” he mentioned.
In line with a press release by chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy within the state meeting per week later, heavy rains in a span of 24 hours within the upstream of Annamayya mission led to the deluge. There was a heavy rainfall of 10.7 cm within the space between November 18 and 19, resulting in a sudden improve within the influx of water into Pincha mission from 3,845 cusecs to 1.17 lakh cusecs by midnight of November 18.
Within the early hours of Friday, the Pincha mission breached and the floodwater rushed downstream to Annamayya mission. By 5.30 am, the water influx into Annamayya mission was 3.2 lakh cusecs, whereas its discharge capability was solely 2.17 lakh cusecs.
“Within the 50 years historical past of Annamayya mission, it has not obtained such enormous quantity of inflows. The unprecedented strain on the mission led to breach of the bund and subsequent deluge. About 1,250 households live within the villages downstream. As many as 400 households dwelling within the low-lying areas have been shifted to safer locations,” the chief minister mentioned.
The floods inundated villages like Gundluru, Seshamambapuram, Pulathur, Thogurupeta, Ramachandrapuram, Hemadrivaripalle, Akepadu and Mandapalli villages and different smaller hamlets alongside the river course.
The floods left a path of destruction in these villages. Lots of of acres of fertile lands have been destroyed and the lands have been utterly lined by sand and dust that the flood water introduced together with it. Hundreds of homes have been razed to the bottom and a whole bunch of cattle additionally bought washed away.
In all, 33 folks have been declared useless because of the breach of Annamayya mission. “Our bodies of six individuals have nonetheless not been untraced even after a 12 months. Perhaps, they have been swept away into the Somasila reservoir on Penna river in Nellore district downstream. Their households have gone helter-skelter,” mentioned M Ramachandraiah, a correspondent of a vernacular each day.
Parna Ramaiah, a 61-year-old retired watchman of Annamayya mission, who saved a whole bunch of lives from the devastating floods on the night time of November 18 by alerting the villagers of Togurupeta, expressed remorse that the state authorities had not taken any steps to revive the mission but.
He mentioned the villages underneath Annamayya mission was digital graveyards. “Not a single home withstood the flood fury. We have now misplaced every thing – cash, gold, meals grains, garments, family articles, furnishings,” Ramaiah mentioned.
He mentioned the chief minister visited the flood-affected areas a couple of days later and consoled the bereaved households. “The federal government gave ₹5 lakh to every of the households of the deceased. However that was all we bought,” Ramaiah mentioned.
The authorities assured to increase monetary help to those that misplaced their homes, in addition to removing of heaps of sand and dust that piled up over a whole bunch of acres of fertile lands. “We ran from pillar to publish giving representations to each official – proper from mandal income officer to the district collector, however to no avail,” mentioned, Ramaiah, whose two acres of land the place he used to develop turmeric, was utterly destroyed.
On Friday, a day earlier than the primary anniversary of the deluge, Rajampet district administration launched an quantity of ₹1.40 lakh every to 147 households, whose homes have been utterly razed within the floods. “We have now credited the quantity to the accounts of the beneficiaries by Friday night itself. They will assemble the homes with this cash,” district collector P S Girisha instructed reporters.
Engineer-in-chief (irrigation) C Narayana Reddy mentioned the state authorities had given administrative sanction for ₹787.77 crore on November 2 for restoration of Annamayya mission together with offering further spillway.
“The designs and drawings are underneath preparation and scrutiny. We will float tenders shortly and floor the work within the final week of December. We hope to finish the restoration of the mission by December 2024,” Reddy mentioned.