VIJAYAWADA: The devastating flash flood in Budameru Rivulet on Saturday night (August 31) paralyzed life in more than half of Vijayawada and over 2.7 lakh people were stranded in the marooned houses. Even after four days, normalcy is yet to be restored. What is Budameru and what led to the flash flood that has shaken the city and a sparked political slugfest? Budameru is a small rivulet that originates in the erstwhile Khammam district on the border of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The major drain, as defined by the Water Resource Department, meanders through Mylavaram Assembly constituency of the NTR district and in its course several streamlets and water bodies drain into it along with excess water from agriculture fields. Some of the streams that join Budameru are Pulivagau, Bhim Vagu, Loyavagu in Reddigudem, Mylavaram, and G Kondur. Some streams from Vissannapet and Tiruvuru also join Budameru. It flows towards the northern parts of Vijayawada and from there towards Kolleru passing through Gudavalli, Gannavaram, Bapulapadu, Gudivada, and Nandivada. Budameru has been flooding the city every rainy season earning the sobriquet ‘Sorrow of Vijayawada’. The discharge capacity of this major drain is 11,000 cusecs of water. To control the floods, the river was dammed at Velagaleru village, and a diversion channel, the Budameru Diversion Canal (BDC), was constructed from Velagaleru to join the Krishna River upstream of the Prakasam Barrage. However, the discharge capacity of BDC is very low and its modernisation was never done. To release water into Krishna River from Budameru, the water levels of the Krishna River should be less than 12 feet, otherwise, the flood water will be pushed back with the same intensity as of the river water. Since August 31, under the impact of the low-pressure in the Bay of Bengal, there were heavy rains in the upper reaches of the NTR district and Khammam region in Telangana. Some 30 tanks in Telangana were reported to have been breached. During 24 hours from Friday night, there has been a record rainfall upstream of Prakasam Barrage. Extreme rainfall was recorded, leading to heavy inflows into various streams joining Budameru as well as the Krishna River. With water levels in Krishna River increasing, there was no scope for releasing the accumulating flood water into Krishna from BDC, and the 11 regulatory gates of Velagaleru Head Regulator, which were not used for several years, had to be lifted. However, by that time, the flash flood in Budameru widened the breaches that were not noticed before and the flood water gushed toward Vijayawada city inundating Gollapudi, Milk Project, Jakkampudi, Kandrika, Payakapuram, Ajit Singh Nagar, and other areas. Another reason for the flooding was that the natural flow path of Budameru was obstructed by several encroachments over the years. Even as flood relief efforts were going on, a political slugfest started as to who was responsible for not taking up modernisation of BDC, who encroached on Budameru flood banks. “Without doubt, rapid urbanisation and unchecked encroaches is a major reason for the current disaster,” an expert has observed.
