The water authority discharged 4 lakh cusecs of water to the Bay of Bengal from the Dowleswaram barrage by 10pm on Friday by lifting 175 gates. At Bhadrachalam, 14.27 lakh cusecs of surplus water was discharged downstream of Godavari. “It is likely to cross the 10 lakhs cusecs mark at Dowleswaram in the coming 24 hours,” officials stated by the evening.

The agency mandals like Velerupadu and Kukkunuru in Eluru district were alerted and inhabitants of the Veleru Padu mandal were exiting their villages and moving to safer places. Officials were arranging boats to shift the affected people.

District collector Vetri Selvi said officials would shift the people of flood-hit areas to safer places. Lachigudem, Gommugudem and other villages would be evacuated and the affected people taken to the Dacharam R&R colony. “The people of these villages are being shifted by use of tractors. Pregnant women would be admitted in government hospitals while children, old people and the disabled are being shifted to safer places,” she said.

Generators, cooking equipment and material, vegetables, boats, swimmers, life-jackets, rope parties etc would be made available in every village.

With the river in spate, the high-value Pulasa fish surfaced in Yanam waters. On Friday, the catch by fishermen at Yanam
was sold at Rs 15,000 per kilo. They sold two kilos of Pulasa in the auction.