Rivers in spate in north Andhra after Cyclone Arnab; flood water enters Ichchapuram

A flooded underpass beneath a railway bridge near Seethanagaram after the Suvarnamukhi river swelled in Parvathipuram Manyam district on Thursday.

Major rivers in the north Andhra districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Parvathipuram Manyam continued to receive heavy inflows from their catchment areas on Thursday (October 29, 2026), though the weather cleared after Cyclone Arnab crossed the coast on Wednesday.

The Bahuda river received 58,436 cusecs of water after flood water was released from the Baghalati dam in Odisha. Flood water entered the border town of Ichchapuram and surrounding areas, but the situation is under control, Srikakulam Collector Swapnil Dinakar Pundkar said. Following heavy inflows into the Vamsadhara, irrigation officials released 56,272 cusecs of water on Thursday.

Officials released 15,450 cusecs of water in the Nagavali river at the old bridge in Srikakulam after two days of continuous inflows. A special control room has been set up at the Collector’s office (08942-240557) to monitor the flood situation in several parts of the district. Several low-lying areas of Parvathipuram Manyam district were flooded after the Suvarnamukhi river swelled.

Vizianagaram district received an average of 187.13 mm of rain on October 28, against a normal of about 1.36 mm for the day, according to the Water Resources Department. Srikakulam district got 131.33 mm and Parvathipuram Manyam 81.80 mm. In each of the three districts, that one day brought more than three-quarters of all the rain recorded so far in October.

The Nagavali at Srikakulam stood at 10.16 metres at noon on Thursday and was still rising, just 1 cm below its warning level of 10.17 metres, the department’s data showed. The danger level is 10.8 metres. The Vamsadhara at the Gotta barrage was at 35.5 metres, well below its warning level of 39.1 metres, A.P. Water Resources Department data shows.

The administrations of Vizianagaram and Parvathipuram Manyam districts focused on restoring roads and power supply. Vizianagaram Collector S. Ramsundar Reddy expressed grief over the death of junior lineman Duvvada Pydiraju, who fell from an electric pole while carrying out repairs at Nallabilli in Vepada mandal.

He asked officials and staff to be careful while working in cyclone- and flood-affected areas. Schools and colleges remained closed on Thursday because the cyclone warning had not yet been officially withdrawn, he said. The administration was making arrangements for the municipal elections on November 1, he added.

Life has turned miserable for thousands of people in Ichchapuram and nearby villages on the Andhra Pradesh-Odisha border, such as Loddaputti, Korigam and Rattakanna, after flash floods in the Bahuda river and seasonal streams of the region. The release of large volumes of water from the Baghalati dam in Patrapur block of Odisha’s Ganjam district flooded many villages in the border area. Traffic on National Highway 16, which connects Chennai and Kolkata, was disrupted.

The Odisha irrigation officials alerted their Andhra Pradesh counterparts before releasing around 86,000 cusecs of water from the dam on Thursday afternoon. The Srikakulam district administration began moving people out, but could do so only partly because it was late at night and there was too little time to inform all the villagers. Power cuts and the lack of internet connectivity also hampered the effort. The streets of every village turned into flowing streams, leaving people unable to move about.

“People living in Ichchapuram and surrounding villages were shocked by the huge floodwater during the night. They are unable to contact any official in the absence of internet connectivity during Wednesday night,” Tarunraj, an advocate in Ichchapuram, said.

Former Ichchapuram MLA Piriya Sairaj alleged that the government had utterly failed to take up relief measures in the flood-affected areas. Srikakulam District Congress Committee President Sanapala Annaji Rao said the inundation of the villages could have been averted had the government coordinated properly with the Odisha government.

The administration sent NDRF and State special teams to the border town, about 120 km from Srikakulam. Collector Swapnil Dinakar Pundkar said normalcy would be restored in a day because the water was receding fast. Special teams with boats had reached the flooded areas, where food packets were being given to all those affected, he said. Indian Red Cross Society Srikakulam District Chairman P. Jagan Mohana Rao said IRCS teams had been sent to Ichchapuram to help with relief work. Doctors, medical staff and volunteers would camp in the villages in coordination with the district administration, he said.