Budameru floods: a trauma that refuses to subside-OxBig News Network

August 31, 2024. Large swathes of Vijayawada was under water. The previous day, the city had received over 180 mm of rainfall or 17% of its annual share, and the calm rivulet of Budameru had swelled and swallowed 14 divisions of the metropolis.

Kodada Sreedhar, a young railway contract employee from Laxmi Nagar in Payakapuram, was wading through filthy floodwater that had risen till his chest. Like many others in his colony, he was fully dependent on food and water packets being distributed by the government and relief workers, and he was in a hurry to get them. As he pushed through, his eyes caught something floating by. It took his weary mind a few seconds more to recognise what it was: a body. “It belonged to a young man,” says Sreedhar, horror punctuating this words.

For months since that day, Sreedhar used to have panic attacks in the dead of night. “The cries for help, and people jostling with one another to get food packets remains etched in my memory,” he says.

Though a year has passed since that hellish experience, many are still picking up the pieces, and as another August is round the corner, fear pools on their faces whenever the skies darken.

Sowing destruction

The official toll due to floods in the State in 2024, including fatalities in the districts of NTR, Guntur and Palnadu, stood at 32 as of September 5 that year. But according to the residents, the actual number must have been higher as the government did not take into account those who died of infections and fever in the days following the flood.

According to government records, 2,72,727 people were directly or indirectly affected by the calamity. Jones Manikonda, a social worker who runs ‘Little Hope Trust’ and who, along with a few volunteers, had helped hundreds during the floods, says they provided financial assistance to 25 families in the city who had lost a loved one to the disaster. The deaths were due to fevers, infections and other flood-related reasons.

Eighteen-year-old Sirisha* (name changed), a resident of Vambay Colony near Budameru, lost her mother to a skin infection. The 35-year-old woman, who was mentally ill and diabetic, had entered the floodwater to collect waste paper. She returned with an infection, which festered and killed her in two weeks. The death of her mother and devastation of the flood took a heavy toll on Sirisha’s mental health.

Jones Manikonda points out that fear and anxiety still linger in many and recounts multiple instances of people telling her how they were waking up in the middle of the night and unable to go back to sleep.

Naga Lakshmi, another resident of the same colony, says she freezes momentarily every time it rains or power goes. “I shudder at the though of what would happen if floods struck the city again.” The 24-year-old was in her ninth month of pregnancy and was due for delivery when Budameru flooded her small one BHK apartment on the first floor of an apartment complex.

“The doctor had told us that the delivery would be complicated, and we had saved up around ₹30,000 for the surgery,” says Lakshmi, whose husband works at a tile shop and earns ₹400-₹500 a day. Along with all that cash, the family also lost two gold chains, two pairs of earrings and two rings to the floods. A television, a double bed and a fridge were damaged beyond repair.

Her husband, a heart patient, suffered a stroke in the aftermath of the floods due to stress and her elder son contracted typhoid twice and had to be taken to the hospital many times. Financially decimated, the family now lives on two meals a day.

Balayya, an autorickshaw driver currently living in Chitti Nagar, says it will take a minimum of five years for them to piece their life together. “The well-off can replace their damaged goods; that’s not the case for us,” he says.

In the aftermath of the floods, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had announced a compensation of ₹25,000 to flood victims who have their homes on the ground floor and ₹10,000 to those who had houses on the first floor. While Lakshmi (first floor) got the compensation, Sirisha (ground floor) and two more women in the colony say they did not get any. Even Sreedhar, who incurred a loss of around ₹3 lakh during the floods, has not received the compensation.

A city’s lingering sorrow

Vijayawada, bounded by the Krishna to the south and the Budameru to northwest, has been ravaged by floods multiple times over the past century. According to the City Disaster Management Plan, prepared by Vijayawada Municipal Corporation Commissioner G. Ravi Babu and Project Support Associate P. Usha in 2011, there were 15 flood events between 1903 and 2009 in the Krishna river and an equal number of floods in the Budameru, which flows through the city for about 21 km, between 1962 and 2008. The report was a Union government and United Nations Development Programme project.

While the Prakasam Barrage has a capacity of 11.90 lakh cusec, last year, the discharge rate at the barrage touched 11.43 lakh cusec, the highest ever. As for Budameru, the highest discharge rate till 2024 was recorded in 1964, at 28,470 cusec, as per the report. Last year’s discharge rate, however, was 40,000 cusec at the Velagaleru regulator.

Budameru, originating near Mylavaram, circles Vijayawada before joining the Kolleru. From there, it goes to the sea through Upputeru. In between, it is joined by many streams. The rivulet remains dry most of the year.

Asked why, despite a long history of floods in the city, the authorities are unable to curb the destruction, Srinivas (name changed), a retired official in the Irrigation Department, says floods are unforeseen natural calamities that can’t be prevented. “But, one can always try to mitigate the disaster.”

The rivulet is controlled near the Velagaleru regulator. Budameru Diversion Channel (BDC), the present carrying rate of which is 15,000 cusec, was dug in 1964 to divert floodwater to the Krishna river before it enters the city, the official says.

When the regulator receives inflows beyond its capacity of 15,000 cusec, the gates are operated. “Last year, due to extremely heavy rainfall of 20 cm-30 cm in two days in catchments, the regulator received inflow at 40,000 cusec. Because the Krishna was also in spate, the BDC could not empty excess flood water into the Krishna as the water level in Krishna is higher than that of the BDC. Besides, there is no flood forecasting system at Velagaleru to prepare the city for floods,” he explains.

While last year’s floods broke all previous records, in the past, too, there were occurrences where both the rivers overflowed. Between 1962 and 2009, it happened six times: 1964, 1983, 1989, 2005, 2008 and 2009.

While what happened last year was rare, the official feels it could have been managed better had the encroachments along the rivulet in the city been removed. “These encroachments have restricted or narrowed the rivulet, causing inundation to last for a longer period,” says the official. At a few places, it took nearly ten days for the water to recede.

Another retired Irrigation official, Satnanarayana (name changed), argues that the government did its best during the floods.

Operation Budameru

The 2011 report points a finger at politicians for making “false promises” to those who constructed houses illegally along Budameru. They allegedly tell people that they would help them get the houses regularised. This results in more occupations near the floodplain.

It is to address this issue that Chandrababu Naidu announced ‘Operation Budameru’. Along with removing encroachments, plans were drawn up to desilt and widen the BDC.

R. Mohan Rao, Superintendent Engineer of the Irrigation Circle, Vijayawada, says that as part of Operation Budameru, the department has sent a Detailed Project Report to the State government.

“It has three important components: a proposal for a new Budameru channel from Velagaleru regulator to Enikepadu Under Tunnel. The new channel, which will bypass the city, will need land acquisition, and ₹3,289 crore has been estimated for this. From Enikepadu Under Tunnel to Kolleru and onwards to the sea through Upputeru, the existing Budameru drain will be strengthened and widened. The estimated cost for the two tasks is ₹1,500 crore. Desilting, too, will be done,” says the official.

“Because the Krishna was also in spate, the BDC could not empty excess flood water into the Krishna as the water level in the Krishna is higher than that of the BDC. Besides, there is no flood forecasting system at Velagaleru to prepare the city for floods”SrinivasRetired Irrigation Department official

Asked what has been done since the floods last year, the official says a number of breaches along the BDC were fixed. But, from Mylavaram to the regulator, where 72 breaches had been reported, only temporary work has been carried out. He adds that tenders have been called and that full-scale work would begin soon.

Moreover, the official says that 3,100 encroachments, mostly residential complexes, have been identified in the city limits. Removing one encroachment is estimated to cost an upwards of ₹20 lakh, including resettlement. Plans are being drawn to enhance the carrying capacity of Enikepadu Under Tunnel, where the proposed Budameru channel will meet the existing one.

“Currently, discussions are under way. First, we have been asked to focus on widening and strengthening of the Budameru drain, without disturbing encroachments,” he says, adding that due to the huge amount of fund involved, the government is looking at options to fund the project.

Meanwhile, another Irrigation official, who sought anonymity, says there is a proposal to enhance the carrying rate of BDC from the present 15,000 cusec to 37,550 cusec. The same proposal, however, was mooted in 2011, too, but not much was done as part of it.

The official was quick to add that the work began in 2021, but stalled owing to fund crunch before even 25% of the work could be completed. “Currently, ₹800 crore is needed for the BDC widening work,” he says, adding that the State government is yet to sanction funds.

In the 2011 report, too, widening of the BDC is listed as a solution to the floods, but due to reasons unknown, nothing much has been done so far.

Satyanarayana feels widening will not yield much. “It is adequate as it is. Besides, widening it will not help much if the Krishna is also in spate, in which case there will be a backflow in the BDC,” he says, adding that desilting, too, is not required.

As discussions happen and file move in the echelons of power, people like Sreedhar, Sirisha and Lakshmi keep their fingers crossed. The hundreds they represent carry the raw scars from last year’s devastation and, as a dark clouds march over Vijayawada, seek assurances that their city can weather the next storm.