An aerial view of a swelling Kolleru Lake due to heavy rain in the upstream villages of Telangana, on Monday.
| Photo Credit: BY ARRANGEMENT
The Eluru district police has been using drones to monitor the rain and flood situation in the Krishna-Eluru-West Godavari district border villages over continuous downpour in the catchment areas.
The police said that as the neighbouring Telangana is receiving heavy rains in the upstream villages, flood levels in Kolleru Lake have seen a rise leading to roads being submerged and many villages cut off. “We are monitoring the situation with the help of drones. Teams of Eluru District Response Force (EDRF) have been positioned in vulnerable areas,” said Eluru District Superintendent of Police K. Pratap Shiva Kishore.
Road communication between Manuguluru village and Penumaka Lanka has been cut off as the Kolleru Lake is swelling. Traffic has been suspended and a police picket has been arranged at Manuguluru, the SP added.
“We have prepared the disaster management plan and are coordinating with the tahsildars to shift pregnant and lactating women and senior citizens to a safer place. Boats and expert swimmers are kept on stand-by to supply medicines and relocate people to safer places in emergency,” Mr. Pratap Shiva Kishore told The Hindu on Monday (August 18, 2025).
Caution boards have been put up and patrolling has been intensified at Komati Lanka village as a precautionary measure after flood water entered the roads, said Eluru Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) D. Sravan Kumar.
The DSP said that Kaikalur Rural CI V. Ravi Kumar, Mandavalli SI Ramachandra Rao and other police officers were instructed to monitor the flood situation through drones and deploy EDRF teams to take up rescue and rehabilitation operations.
“We are monitoring the water levels in Tammileru, Ramileru and Budameru streams and Polaraju and Kommileru drains which flow into Kolleru Lake,” a revenue officer monitoring the flood situation said.
Roads to many island villages in Kolleru are submerged as the flood level is rising. If the rainfall continues till Tuesday morning, more habitations will be cut-off, Ravi Kumar a resident of Komati Lanka said.
Mr. Sravan Kumar advised the villagers not to cross the overflowing streams. Public are requested to ‘Dial 112’ or the nearby police station in emergency.
Published – August 18, 2025 09:06 pm IST
