Hyderabad: The Godavari showed signs of receding on Saturday after peaking in the latest monsoon spell, though the third flood warning remained in force at Bhadrachalam. Authorities continued evacuations, enforced traffic restrictions on submerged roads and kept rescue teams on standby.The river level at Bhadrachalam dropped from 56.1 ft at 11 am to 55.8 ft by 4 pm, while inflow declined from 15.97 lakh cusecs to 15.78 lakh cusecs.“The flood is on a decreasing trend, with both river levels and upstream inflows falling,” said S Srinivas Reddy, chief engineer, irrigation, Kothagudem.Despite the improvement, Bhadradri Kothagudem collector Ankit reviewed flood-hit areas, inspected embankments and relief operations, and directed officials to continue evacuations from low-lying areas. “We are ensuring that relief camps have drinking water, food, electricity, sanitation and medical facilities, while all departments continue to monitor the situation round-the-clock,” he said.Floodwaters continued to submerge the Bhadrachalam-Kunavaram road, with traffic suspended and police preventing motorists from entering inundated stretches. The Turpaka-Dummugudem road also remained closed, while officials monitored the Sarapaka-Reddypalem road as river levels stayed high.Revenue, police, irrigation, municipal, medical and electricity departments, along with NDRF, SDRF and DRF teams, remained on standby.Meanwhile, in north Telangana, reservoirs received healthy inflows after recent rains in Maharashtra. “Storage increased by about 5 tmc over the past three days, though inflows have now begun to decline as rainfall in the upstream catchment has eased,” said district irrigation officer V SS Prakash.Authorities urged people to stay away from the river, avoid flooded roads and follow only official advisories.
