We had arrived at my uncle’s home at Hyderabad on Friday evening and our bus was scheduled at 7 in the evening. We had coffee and left soon. We caught the bus and started our supposed to be happy and comfortable journey from Hyderabad to Bangalore.At 9 o clock, the bus stopped for the dinner at the Lakshmi narayana Bhavan and we all happily had our night meal. That time we heard that the Karnool Bridge has been flooded and we can’t go ahead as there is 6 ft water running on the bridge. The driver was worried. We saw some buses and trucks running in the same road so we thought we can also head forward. It was 11:30 in the night when the traffic came to a close. There was a police man standing near a truck and he instructed us to park the bus on the side of the road and wait till next day morning to see if the water on the bridge descends so that we can use the bridge to cross the Krishna River.
It was drizzling all the way when we were preparing ourselves to spend the night on the road. We thought to have a little walk and find out how serious is the waters on the bridge. So we left the bus and started walking in the chilling cold and rain. There was an abandoned lorry locked at the center of the bridge. The water level was till its tires. There was a tea shop and a temple engulfed with water at the outer edge of the bridge.
A few police men were around the river directing trucks to go back if the river level rose. They didn’t allow us to even touch the flowing water as the currents were too fierce. We took some pics of the police and the long standing trucks and other vehicles and walked back to the bus when it rained heavily and we fully got drenched in the rain. The bus was full soggy. It was around 4 km from the bus to the bridge in the night. We came back to the bus and slept hopefully that the water would descend. A few tv channel vans hurried in to cover the news of raising waters on the bridge.
I was deep asleep when a rescue operator came in to the bus and woke us up by hitting the window next to me. I woke up shocked. He handed me a bottle of mineral water and some biscuits. I was fully awake when he got down from the bus handing over same pockets to everyone. We saw a bus full of police reaching us and ordering immediate evacuation of the village – Rangapura where we had parked our bus. The villagers knew that the crest gates of Almatti dam had been put open in the night and that the water flow would increase further and they found it reasonable to evacuate themselves from their houses (Homes) to a nearby town – Jedcharla. Soon the villagers started with the evacuation of cattle and other livestock. There was no power in the village for nearly 6 hrs and hence no tv and no phone. As it rained all most of the time, there was no news paper to know about the news. We knew we were trapped. But they kept saying that the river would recede and we still could cross the river on the bridge. The night before that it took us 4 km to reach the actual bridge and the water but when I had woken up that day, I was able to see water – just 2 km away from us. The river had risen. The lorry which had water till its tire level on the bridge was only visible with its upper wedge and the temple and the tea shops were drowned without trace.
At 10:00 AM the first Red Cross van approached us to monitor the medical health conditions of those who were trapped. As we were all physically fit, it didn’t matter to us much. There was a village in the course of the river where there was a small hill and when the waters started to flow in huge volumes, the people sought shelter of the hill. So when their village was fully flooded, the people on the hill had to be air lifted and any communication with them was through helicopter. The first rescue - army helicopter reached the spot at 11:30 and started distributing the food pockets to those people on the hill.
We had passed the breakfast time and we were too hungry. My mother gave us two biscuits each and said that’s our breakfast. By then there were a number of rescue operators on the road distributing biscuits, plain water and food pockets. My phone had expired on the night before and only ray of hope was my father’s phone in connection with my brother.
We waited till night in the hope that the bridge will be available for us to cross the river. In the mean time we learnt that the Riachur Bridge had collapsed thereby closing one of the vital links between Hyderabad and Bangalore. The day before that the Srisailam bridge had been shredded too. So we had only two other ways. Back to Hyderabad – Vijaywada – Guntur – Nellore – naidupeta – Tirupathi – Bangalore or Hyderbad – Cudappah – Hindupur – Bangalore. The driver was too confused about the routes and he found out that both the roads have been water clogged and so we had to wait till the rain stops to proceed any further. At 10 in the night, the army official confirmed that the water on the Karnool Bridge seems not receding and waiting there would be in vein.
To reach to Bangalore, we had to - had to cross the Krishna River unless we went round about at Mahabaleshwar where the river takes birth. All the bridges on its way from Mahabaleshwar to the sea were either broken or water clogged. But the only exception was the bridge in the middle of Vijaywada city. I had loved that bridge and the crest gates of the dam. I had seen earlier the water being released from those gates - I only hoped that the bridge be strong enough for us to cross the river.
We spent the night near Karnool on the road and at 5 in the morning we started our journey from Karnool to Hyderabad. From Hyderabad, We went to Kammam as Hyderabad – Vijaywada road was water clogged. Finally when we reached Vijaywada, it was 4 in the afternoon. Only when I saw Vijaywada bus stand, I thought we are going to make it to home. Vijaywada is special to me in many ways. I always had loved the city. I knew a lot of places and we had my father’s guest house. So we decided if we cannot cross the bridge, we would stay in that guest house. But soon we found the bus to Bangalore that left at 5 in the evening. The next day at 11, I was at office only glad to be alive with biscuits for more than 60hrs.
At 10:00 AM the first Red Cross van approached us to monitor the medical health conditions of those who were trapped. As we were all physically fit, it didn’t matter to us much. There was a village in the course of the river where there was a small hill and when the waters started to flow in huge volumes, the people sought shelter of the hill. So when their village was fully flooded, the people on the hill had to be air lifted and any communication with them was through helicopter. The first rescue - army helicopter reached the spot at 11:30 and started distributing the food pockets to those people on the hill.
We had passed the breakfast time and we were too hungry. My mother gave us two biscuits each and said that’s our breakfast. By then there were a number of rescue operators on the road distributing biscuits, plain water and food pockets. My phone had expired on the night before and only ray of hope was my father’s phone in connection with my brother.
We waited till night in the hope that the bridge will be available for us to cross the river. In the mean time we learnt that the Riachur Bridge had collapsed thereby closing one of the vital links between Hyderabad and Bangalore. The day before that the Srisailam bridge had been shredded too. So we had only two other ways. Back to Hyderabad – Vijaywada – Guntur – Nellore – naidupeta – Tirupathi – Bangalore or Hyderbad – Cudappah – Hindupur – Bangalore. The driver was too confused about the routes and he found out that both the roads have been water clogged and so we had to wait till the rain stops to proceed any further. At 10 in the night, the army official confirmed that the water on the Karnool Bridge seems not receding and waiting there would be in vein.
To reach to Bangalore, we had to - had to cross the Krishna River unless we went round about at Mahabaleshwar where the river takes birth. All the bridges on its way from Mahabaleshwar to the sea were either broken or water clogged. But the only exception was the bridge in the middle of Vijaywada city. I had loved that bridge and the crest gates of the dam. I had seen earlier the water being released from those gates - I only hoped that the bridge be strong enough for us to cross the river.
We spent the night near Karnool on the road and at 5 in the morning we started our journey from Karnool to Hyderabad. From Hyderabad, We went to Kammam as Hyderabad – Vijaywada road was water clogged. Finally when we reached Vijaywada, it was 4 in the afternoon. Only when I saw Vijaywada bus stand, I thought we are going to make it to home. Vijaywada is special to me in many ways. I always had loved the city. I knew a lot of places and we had my father’s guest house. So we decided if we cannot cross the bridge, we would stay in that guest house. But soon we found the bus to Bangalore that left at 5 in the evening. The next day at 11, I was at office only glad to be alive with biscuits for more than 60hrs.
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