Army Efforts to Seal 100-Metre Breach in Flood-Stricken Andhra City

The army was called to plug the breach and control the flooding. Budameru, a local rivulet passing through Vijayawada city, breached, destroying everything in its path.

The third breach, close to 100 meters wide, had increased due to the funnelling effect of water, where high pressure led to the widening of the breach. The floodwaters have largely receded from several affected places in Vijayawada, but fresh rainfall and the third breach in Budameru rivulet resulted in flooding again in parts of the city.

A team of engineers from the Army has put two layers of Gabion Baskets, a cage or cylinder box filled with stones, to stop the breach. These baskets will be stacked on top of one another, and a four-meter-high wall will be constructed, a process also known as rock armoring.

The structure will be strengthened to withstand the high pressure of water and is also used for creating a temporary military fortification. A total of 16,000 sandbags have been collected, with 1,800 already filled and ready for deployment.

Troops from the Madras Regiment and the Army Medical Corps are actively assisting in the humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) operations. Medical assistance has been provided to 200 people so far.

The official death count due to the floods rose to 33 yesterday. Also, 46,320 flood-hit people have been accommodated in 226 relief camps, while 50 NDRF and SDRF teams continue with their relief and rehabilitation work.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu undertook an aerial survey of the flooded regions around Budameru yesterday. Meanwhile, the Meteorological Department noted that the cyclonic circulation associated with the existing low pressure over the Bay of Bengal Sea is likely to move northwards slowly and intensify into a depression over the northwest Bay of Bengal, and adjoining areas of the Gangetic West Bengal, north Odisha, and Bangladesh coasts around September 9.

*- With inputs from PTI*