The Moranchapalli village in Bhupalpalli district was worst affected due to the recent heavy rains. The stream abutting the village was swollen and the flood submerged the whole of the village. People were in a panic to save their lives. The state government immediately swung into action and shifted 1,000 villagers to relief camps. Two choppers, several inflated boats accompanied by NDRF, SDRF and Fire department personnel struggled round the clock to save the lives of people. Local MLA Gandra Venkataramana Reddy, district collector Mr Bhavesh Mishra and hundreds of employees from various government agencies stay put on the spot.
The Morancha stream turned furious on July 26 at midnight and by the next morning in the wee hours, the rescue people reached the village. In a record time, the district administration carried out repairs on the main road to Moranchapalli and restored the cut-off road within three days. However, a section of vernacular media has been spitting venom at the relief operations. It has been resorting to hurting the morale of the officials involved in the relief efforts.
An elderly Rontala Laxmi of Moranchapalli said the officials shifted them to a school in Karkapalli village. They were given blankets, buckets, rice, and utensils and are given food and water during their stay at the relief camp. The employees even cleaned up the whole village. Another resident of the village, Indla Naveen said they belonged to the Chenchu colony in the village and they rushed onto the terrace to save their lives when flood inundated their village. The next morning, boats were sent and they were brought to the school building at Karkapalli. They were given food and later given 25 kg of rice each. “Had the officials not sent boats, we all would have died,” he said recalling the horrific moments.
Another woman, Mekala Chilukamma said they were treated more than expected by the district officials. Feeling happy to be saved by the officials, she said the officials even promised her a pucca house soon. Barasala Rama Devi of Moranchapalli said as the flood water receded, the officials sent fire engines to clean up the whole village. “Our house is clean now, thanks to the officials. We are back in our house,” she said.
By Gollapudi Srinivasa Rao