Krishna floods: Officials close bathing ghats, stop devotees from taking bath in river

With the flood level in Krishna river reaching the second warning level, officials stopped devotees from taking bath in the river on Sunday.

Officials arranged security along the river bund as it was in spate due to incessant rains that have been lashing in the catchment areas for the last few days.

“We have closed Punnami ghat, Durga, Padmavathi and other ghats due to floods. Security has been stepped up at Ibrahimpatnam and Bhavanipuram. We are not allowing the devotees to take bath at the ghats as a precautionary measure,” said an officer monitoring the situation at Punnami ghat.

Devotees can take shower bath at Kalyanakatta. Expert swimmers, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and police have been arranged at the ghats, the officer said.

Meanwhile, the Krishna district officials sounded alert as the Irrigation authorities released 6.50 lakh cusecs from Prakasam Barrage on Monday.

Collector D.K. Balaji reviewed the situation with the Revenue, Police and Irrigation officials and asked them to be alert. He asked the villagers staying in low-lying areas to move to safer places.

Speaking to The Hindu, Avanigadda Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) T. Vidya Sree said police evacuated the people residing in Pata Yadlalanka island. “We arranged boats and shifted the island villagers to the rehabilitation shelters set up at Avanigadda. Boating has been suspended in the river,” the DSP said.

Villagers staying in the downstream of Krishna were asked not to cross the overflowing canals and the river on countrymade boats, the police said.