Hyderabad: The Godavari river at the temple town of Bhadrachalam in Bhadradri Kothagudem is in spate, with the water level reaching 51.90 feet as of 5pm on Thursday. If it touches 53 feet, the district authorities will sound the third warning.The river’s water level has been rising over the second warning level, which was announced after it touched 48 feet. If and when the water level touches the third warning level, the discharge from the river will be 14.26 lakh cusecs. At the second warning level, 11.44 lakh cusecs of discharge is being recorded.Authorities in Bhadradri Kothagudem, who are on alert, will shift residents of villages located along the river to safer locations in case of a threat of inundation. The district administration has readied the police, revenue, municipal and panchayat raj departments, apart from expert swimmers and the disaster response force, to tackle any emergency situation. A control room has also been set up (08743-232444) at the sub-collector’s office in Bhadrachalam. People can also dial 7981219425 in case of emergencies, collector Jitesh Patil said.Meanwhile, very light or light rainfall was recorded at a few places in the State. Kannaigudem in Mulugu district received 10mm till 5pm. On August 20-21 morning, the highest rainfall of 29mm was recorded at Jainoor in Kumuram Bheem Asifabad district.The IMD has forecasted light to moderate rain or thundershowers at isolated places across the state. Thunderstorms, accompanied by lightning, are very likely to occur at isolated places in Mancherial, Jayashankar Bhupalpally, Mulugu, Bhadradri Kothagudem, Khammam, Nalgonda, Suryapet, Mahabubabad, Warangal, and Hanumakonda districts, it said. It also said gusty winds of 30-40 kmph are very likely at isolated places in all districts.In another development, the body of a 28-year-old man, who got washed away in the Wyra stream in Khammam on Aug 19, was fished out by the SDRF on Aug 20. Vinod of Madupalli village went fishing in the stream, and got washed away in the swelling waters. The police and disaster response force, which carried out a search, found the body. With this, the toll in rain-related incidents across the state touched 14 in the last 10 days, i.e., since Aug 12, when widespread heavy to very heavy rain lashed several areas.
