Hoping for help from the sky

Relief through chopper continues in water-logged villages

The rumbling noise of the chopper jolted the residents of Moolapalle from their half-sleep and half-fatigue, who ran out of their houses with the hope of getting some essential commodities. Their eyes were stuck in the air, expecting bags of goodies to be dumped on the lone dry patch of land seen in the midst of their submerged fields.

The little-known Moolapalle, tucked somewhere abutting a hillock and the Seshachalam forest ranges, is not the only village yearning for help from the sky. Several villages like Kalepalli, Kuppam Badur and Chittathuru upstream of Rayalacheruvu are still in knee-deep water.

Moolapalle and Nadimpalle are cut off from the mainland and have remained islands for days together. Till the time the road connectivity is restored, the government authorities are air-dropping essential commodities to such water-logged villages through helicopters drawn from the Indian Air Force. The helicopter crew from Bengaluru is slogging it for almost a week by making three sorties a day from the old Tirupati airport to supply commodities to the hinterland.