Andhra engineers use drone to restore power across raging river

Tuni (Andhra Pradesh), Oct 17 : Engineers at the Andhra Pradesh Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited (APEPDCL) made use of drone technology to innovatively restore power to five villages in East Godavari district’s Tuni mandal.
In the recent heavy rains due to the deep depression, five villages between Kolimeru and S. S. Venkatanagaram were cut off from power supply.
Tuni is 257 km north east of Vijayawada, on the east coast of India by the Bay of Bengal.
The only way to reach those villages was to cross the Thandava river, which was in spate because of the downpour.
“Thandava was gushing with floodwaters at full spate. It was not possible for anyone to either swim or row a boat to the other side carrying the necessary electrical equipment,” an APEPDCL engineer told IANS.
Considering the difficulties, the engineers innovatively flew a drone to the other of the bank, carrying a thin fishing wire to which they later tied a stronger rope made of coconut fibre to pass the equipment.