National Disaster Security Force (NDRF) personnel Raja dusted off his palms against his neon orange shorts after yet another round of shifting people out of the flood-affected Ajith Singh Nagar area in Andhra Pradesh’s Vijayawada. “I have witnessed several floods. I was in Chennai when it flooded eight months ago and that was a big disaster too. But the speed with which the water flooded Vijayawada is unlike anything I have seen before,” he told TNM.

Raja was in one of the several NDRF teams deployed to assist in the floods that devastated Andhra Pradesh’s Vijayawada on August 31. Until now, 26 NDRF, 22 State Disaster Response Forces (SDRF) and two Navy teams have been deployed in search and rescue operations. The South Central Railway cancelled 339 trains and diverted 181 others given the floods on Wednesday, September 4. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu announced Rs 5 lakh ex gratia to be given to the kin of those who died in floods.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) -led state government stated that the death toll as of Friday, September 6, stands at 33, and two people are yet to be found. Residents of Ajithsingh Nagar, YSR Colony, Jakkampudi Colony, and Ambapuram in Vijayawada Urban and Vijayawada Rural have been evacuated and supplied with food and water. Several officials from the state government and the TDP who TNM spoke to remark that the focus currently is on the health of the residents and sanitation work in the affected areas.

A day after the downpour and several days since, photos of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu wading through knee-deep water flooded social media. The state cabinet started to function out of the Collectorate in Vijayawada with Naidu assuring the public that “until the issue is solved, I am not going anywhere.”

TNM visited Ajith Singh Nagar (colloquially known as Singanagar) and Jakkampudi areas of Vijayawada — two of the worst hit — to understand if the state government’s approach to the floods has been ‘timely’ as several people dubbed it.

“State officials, Vijayawada municipal officials have been working continually. Everyone is getting food. But people are yet to be rehabilitated and that should be the government’s immediate next focus,” Ajay, a hospital worker assisting in Singanagar told TNM. The lack of rehabilitation has been a central complaint raised by several flood victims.

Vijay, an IT employee in Hyderabad was visiting his hometown of Vijayawada on August 30. A resident of Singanagar, Vijay said that his friend’s wife had gone into labour when the floods hit and they had to rush her to the hospital in the worst possible condition. “It was touch and go for a while there. The auto driver kept remarking that there was ‘no hope’. But thankfully, both mother and child were fine. Post the floods, the state government has been working. If only we could have been informed in advance that there was a flood warning, we would have made arrangements by ourselves,” he said.

A woman resident of Jakkampudi told TNM that with no choice left, they returned to Jakkampudi and started to drain the water out by themselves after initially trying to seek shelter elsewhere. “When the rains started, several including me lost our Aadhar cards, ration cards and essential provisions. We all packed up whatever was left, and walked in the wee hours of the night to a nearby college to seek refuge. A day later, even college officials asked us to leave because we were ‘making a mess’ of the premises,” she said.

Anupriya, a 26-year-old tailor living in Jakkampudi raised another concern. “I have three sewing machines. All those got swept away in the floods. Unless the state government can compensate me or get me a new machine, my livelihood will be affected,” she remarked.

Several women in Jakkampudi said that they were in desperate need of bathroom facilities and that aside from food assistance, the state government has been unresponsive.

State government’s response

While several districts, including neighbouring Palnadu and Guntur, were victims of floods, Vijayawada in NTR was the worst hit. According to weather reports, Vijayawada received 27% more rain (548.40 mm) than the annual rainfall of 429.10 mm. “This is the worst flood Vijayawada has witnessed in the last 200 years,” Vijayawada MP Kesineni Shivanath told TNM explaining how any preemptive response from the state wouldn’t have been possible.

12 kilometres from Jakkampudi, state government officials and ministers find themselves busy with a different problem. Speaking to TNM, Andhra Pradesh Human Resource Development Minister Nara Lokesh said that the focus currently is on ensuring the repair of the Budameru canal which was breached following excessive water from Velagaleru and Ramikeru streams leading to the canal’s overflow.

“Until the Budameru repair is done, the water levels don’t recede. Until the water reduces, any restoration and rehabilitation will not be possible,” he said.

40 Army engineers from the Indian Army Engineer Task Force were deployed on Friday, September 6, to seal the canal breach and restore normalcy in the flood-affected regions. Lokesh added that he was aware of the situation in Jakkampudi as he pointed to an Andhra Pradesh Central Power Distribution Corporation Limited (APCPDCL) data report. “Of the 26,059 electricity feeders, 9666 alone need repair for Jakkampudi to regain electricity,” he added.

Andhra Pradesh Water Resources minister Nimmala Ramanaidu stated on Friday, September 6, that two breaches of the Budameru canal have been repaired and the third will be repaired shortly. CM Chandrababu Naidu had remarked on Wednesday that encroachments along Budameru and a major blockage of the route through which it drains into the Kolleru Lake triggered the flood. “Attempts to repair and expand Budameru in the 1970s and a subsequent plan to divert it into the Polavaram Right Main Canal during floods had failed,” he said. A slugfest between opposition YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and the TDP, each blaming the other for what they agree is a man-made disaster.

"My party came to power 80 days ago. Can I check every single breach happening across every single canal? There are breaches, and improper management of gates across the board. But one thing I am confident about: this is a man-made disaster, created by the YSRCP," the CM remarked.

While critical of the YSRCP, the CM’s statements also implicate the TDP, which governed united Andhra Pradesh twice and once after the bifurcation of the Telugu states. The problem could have been averted or in the very least, minimised, if Budameru’s repair and expansion had been dealt with by either the TDP or the YSRCP.

“This is always why floods happen. Vijayawada is just the most recent example of planning and monitoring failure,” Former Director of Vijayawada School of Planning and Architecture Dr N Sridharan told TNM. “Even putting aside Budameru, between 2014 and 2016 several encroachments happened along the Krishna river front which hints at this failure,” he added.

Aside from the need for a major planning overhaul, Vijayawada also has to contend with a more city-based concern. TNM learnt that the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation was not able to tackle the floods by itself prompting the state government to call for assistance from other Urban Local Bodies.

“From top-down, all cadres including those working in urban local bodies, be it regional directors, engineers, or town planning officials – everyone has been given ward-wise responsibility to work in three shifts. From Srikakulam Municipal Corporation alone 110 people have come,” Srikakulam Municipal Corporation’s Commissioner Challa Obuleshu told TNM outside Jakkampudi.

Union government: Funds for AP floods?

The state government clearly has its task cut out. The Vijayawada floods come at a time when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led Union government relies heavily on the TDP, its strongest ally in the Lok Sabha. In the Union Budget 2024-25 announced in July, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman dedicated a chunk of her speech to announce special allocations to Andhra Pradesh.

Also Read: Budget: Andhra to get Rs 15000 crore for Amaravati, no special status

CM Naidu has appealed to the Union government to declare the floods a ‘national disaster’ and remarked on Friday, September 6 that he will be sending a flood report to the Union government on Sunday, September 8. A delegation led by Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan toured flood-affected Vijayawada earlier in the week. “Funds will be allotted after surveying the damage caused,” Chauhan said.

“Presently work is being done to provide immediate assistance from SDRF worth Rs 3,448 crore which is already with Andhra Pradesh which also includes the Centre's share. After providing immediate assistance, the government will think about how farmers will get fertilizers and seeds for the next crop,” he added.

The Chauhan-led delegation also met with Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on the following day to tour Khammam, another flood-hit city.