A coordinated rescue operation involving two helicopters saved the lives of about 26 farm labourers who were marooned in agricultural fields owing to flash floods in Peddavagu stream at Narayanapuram village in Aswaraopeta mandal on Thursday.
The labourers were caught unawares when floodwaters from the swollen Peddavagu stream surrounded the farmlands following heavy discharge of water from the Peddavagu medium irrigation project at Gummadivalli village upstream late on Thursday afternoon.
The panicked labourers climbed atop a few structures abutting a small temple and clung onto trees to save their lives. Alerted by the district authorities, Minister for Revenue Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy contacted the Andhra Pradesh government, which in turn requisitioned the help the armed forces as the flooded area bordered Andhra Pradesh’s Eluru district. Subsequently, two helicopters were sent to the area, according to sources.
One of the helicopters made several sorties and rescued all the marooned farm labourers, the sources added.
In another rescue operation, the District Disaster Response Force personnel rescued several cattle grazers who had been stranded in floodwaters of Peddavagu at Bachuvarigudem village in the same mandal by using inflatable boats late on Thursday evening. Superintendent of Police B. Rohit Raju monitored the rescue operation.
Meanwhile, Minister for Agriculture Tummala Nageshwara Rao asked the district administration to evacuate the people living in low-lying areas downstream the Peddavagu project in view of the flash floods in Peddavagu. He further directed the Irrigation department to place sandbags along the project site to prevent breach of the dam as heavy downpour has been forecast in the next three days.
