Amaravati: Tens of villages in West and East Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh continue to remain marooned while some were cut off from the outside world though the flood flow in river Godavari started dwindling on Tuesday.
After announcing a relief payment of Rs 2,000 each to the affected families, Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy undertook an aerial survey in the afternoon of the flood havoc in the two districts.
The Chief Minister, who reviewed the situation with Collectors of the two districts and senior officials, said as per information available, the flood flow in the river might fall further to about 17 lakh cusecs by Tuesday night, 14-12 lakh cusecs on Wednesday and 9-8 lakh cusecs by Thursday.
“This is a good sign,” Jagan remarked.
After touching a peak of 22.90 lakh cusecs on Tuesday morning, the deluge eased a little with the flow dwindling to 22.40 lakh cusecs by afternoon and remained steady.
In East Godavari district, 95 relief camps have been opened where 14,477 people have been accommodated from flood- hit villages.
In all 147 villages under 23 revenue mandals in the district remained marooned due to the deluge, according to the District Collector Muralidhar Reddy.
Another 77 villages remained cut off.
Standing paddy crop in over 2,385 hectares was inundated in the district, while cotton in 225 hectares and horticulture crops in over 5,000 hectares were also affected.
Full-scale enumeration of the damage would be undertaken after the flood recedes.
In neighbouring West Godavari, 55 villages under three mandals were still facing the flood fury.
Vasishta Godavari, a tributary of the perennial river, was in spate, cutting off road communication network.
The district administration opened 26 relief camps where about 6,192 people were provided shelter after they were evacuated from the flood-affected villages, Collector Revu Mutyalaraju said.
He said 71 villages remained cut off, where hundreds of families were stranded.
The administration was reaching out to the villages by boats and ensuring supply of essential commodities, the Collector added.