The heavy outflow from the Prakasam Barrage on the Krishna River resulted in flooding of several low-lying areas in Vijayawada.
Andhra Pradesh News: Two groups of young children and older boys play their own forms of cricket at the centre of the Indira Gandhi Stadium in Vijayawada, in the scorching heat on Monday afternoon. But the kids are not training at the stadium to play professional cricket. They are among the 1400-odd people who have been staying at the flood relief camp which has been set up at the stadium for the past four days.
On August 16, Durga, along with her two children and most of her neighbors in Tarakarama Nagar, quickly packed a few belongings and got on a truck which brought her to the stadium. Durga says that although residents were warned about the possibility of floods, nobody expected it to be this severe. “The officials issued a warning on August 14 and 15. They came and announced the flood alert on mics. But the (Prakasam) barrage gates are opened every year. Some years, the water doesn’t even enter our homes. Other times, it’s just ankle deep. So we didn’t expect it to be this bad this year,” says Durga.
Many of the people staying at the camp say that their houses were completely submerged, with the flood water touching the rooftops. They recall that the last time the flood levels were this high was nearly ten years ago, when they were brought to the same stadium for shelter. The floods have mainly affected low-lying areas in and around the Krishnalanka area in the city, including Rani Gari Thota, Tarakarama Nagar, and Ramalingeswara Nagar.
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