The flood situation in Kurnool and Mahabubnagar districts of Andhra Pradesh turned grim on Friday as large number of residential localities were submerged and there was heavy inflow of water into various reservoirs.
Though Chief Minister K. Rosaiah said no report of any death till late noon, scores of people in the remote areas of the two districts are believed to have gone missing as various rivers and rivulets were flowing at dangerous level.
Incessant rains and water coming into the Tungabhadra, Krishna and Handri rivers due to the heavy rains in upper riparian Karnataka resulted in a sheet of water enveloping a number of residential localities in Kurnool town and the district.
The government has set up relief camps on the outskirts of Kurnool and people are being rescued with over 15 boats, officials said. "We ran out of our home as water was entering the house menacingly. We have nothing with us. We don't know how we feed our children," a group of women said in Kurnool.
Mantralayam marooned
Mantralayam in Kurnool district, home to the renowned Raghavendra Swamy mutt, was submerged with water and people reached atop their houses to save themselves.
Mantralayam MLA B Balanagi Reddy was himself stuck on top of his house with a large number of people and was desperately seeking help, official sources said.
In Mahabubnagar district too, large number of villages were flooded with water, the sources said.
Meanwhile, water level was rising menacingly with heavy inflow of water coming into them in Srisailam, Jurala and other irrigation projects.
Eleven gates of the Srisailam dam have been opened as over 15 lakh cusecs of inflow was entering into it, an engineering official of the dam said.
Meanwhile, the government has rushed senior IAS officials to Kurnool, Mahabubnagar and Krishna districts to organise relief operations.
Four helicopters - three for Kurnool district and one for Mahabubnagar district - are being pressed into service to take up rescue and relief operations, officials said.
Arrangements have been made to provide food and water to the flood victims and also to evacuate them to safer places, they said.
