By admin 
“Look, look… Look at the camera, if you see it… Daddy will see you on TV. Then he will know that we are fine,” said her grandmother, who told the two-year-old to look at the BBC camera from the third floor.
The incident took place on September 3 when the BBC team was going on a boat in Ramakrishnapuram and shooting the conditions there. The BBC saw a similar situation in almost all the colonies and areas in the Budamaru-affected areas.
Bezwada was drowned. More than half of Vijayawada city has been submerged in water due to budamaru floods. Water has entered many houses in Singh Nagar, Ramakrishnapuram, Nandamuri Nagar, Nunna, Vijayawada One Town, Krishnalanka and Ibrahimpatnam to the level of the first floor. According to government figures, nearly two and a half lakh people have been staying on two or more floors for the past three days.
Some are providing water, milk and food packets on boats. The flood victims are living with them.
Officials say the main reason for the situation is Budameru.
So, what is the story of this budameru? Have the authorities not been able to assess the devastation of this flood? What do water resources experts have to say about this?
What is the history of Budamaru…
There is talk that the unexpected flood water from the upper reaches of Budamaru and Krishna river is the reason for vijayawada inundation. However, the water that entered the Krishna river was not responsible for the submergence of Vijayawada and the main reason for the destruction was budammere, said D. Venkatesh, who worked as chief engineer in united Andhra Pradesh and bifurcated Andhra Pradesh. Ramakrishna told the BBC.
Budamaru is a large stream originating in the Mylavaram hills. It starts between the two hills of Arigipalli and Kondapalli. There is water in this stream at some level or the other throughout the year. Budameru is one of the streams supplying water to Kolleru, the largest freshwater lake that extends between the Krishna and Godavari basins.
Normally, budamaru has a maximum of 10,000 to 11,000 cusecs of water flowing annually. In 2005, due to the rains, 75,000 cusecs of water was flowing in Budamuru. Then Vijayawada was damaged to a great extent. Then in 2009, a similar situation arose. Budamaru river takes many twists and turns in its journey. When there was too much flow, it would cross the embankment and go into the surrounding areas.
That’s why the Budamaru floods are more dangerous to Vijayawada than the Krishna river. Ramakrishna says.
In 2005, there were heavy floods. The irrigation department has suggested that a retaining wall should be constructed along the Budamaru river. There was some work on it at that time, but later it was completely shelved.
There have been allegations of rampant land encroachments and real estate transactions in the region where Budamaru flows in these two decades.
By the time it enters the city of Budamaru and reaches Singnagar exactly, its flow is completely wide. Ramakrishna, however, explained that there have been extensive encroachments here, which has prevented the flow of Budamaru.
Ramakrishna said that a large part of the Budamaru flow has been encroached upon and now due to heavy rains, the flood water from above has submerged the encroachments.
This is how the floods were flooded…
Vijayawada and Guntur received record rainfall on August 30 and 31. “In the last 20 or 25 years, we have never seen such a lot of rainfall and in just 36 hours, more than 26 cm of rainfall has been recorded. Ramakrishna said.
It seems that the people and the authorities do not seem to care much about the rain. By sunday morning, the flood had reached low-lying areas. In particular, Budameru came into the colonies in the catchment area. It grew one step by step and slowly rose to five or six feet and entered the houses. It all happened before people noticed it. As a result, people in the flooded areas could not come out. Areas like Singh Nagar, Jakkampudi Colony, Rajarajeshwari Peth, Arunodaya Colony and Nunna have been inundated.
All these submerged areas are located in the catchment area of the Budamaru river. Apart from these, Chittinagar, Pala Factory, Rayanapadu, Paidurupadu, Kavuluru and YSR Colony have been inundated. The water has entered the VTPS (Vijayawada Thermal Power Station).
On the other hand, the krishna river was also flooded and the flood water could not reach the place.