The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Friday forecast heavy rains in the next 48 hours in the flood ravaged districts of Andhra Pradesh. The situation continued to be grim as the Godavari flooded numerous villages in Warangal, Karimnagar, Khammam, Adilabad, Nizamabad, East and West Godavari districts and left more than 150 villages marooned.
The government, meanwhile, has pressed a helicopter into service to drop food packets in the Warangal and Karimnagar districts, which have been affected the worst. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, who reviewed the situation with Chief Secretary P.K. Mohanty and other senior officials, directed the administration to take the armed forces’ help if necessary.
Two more deaths were reported on Friday as houses collapsed, bringing the death toll to 10.
Relief effort
Five helicopters of the Air Force have been kept ready to food, water and medicines in the marooned villages. About 2,000 people, according to the Chief Minister’s office, were shifted to relief camps in Nizamabad town.
Two teams of the National Disaster Response Force, it is learnt, have left for Bhadrachalam, where the Godavari crossed the third warning level (53ft) and was flowing at 55.4ft. The river is likely to touch 60ft by midnight and 65ft by Saturday afternoon, Khammam Collector Srinivas Srinaresh said, quoting the IMD.
The wave of flood water was such that 9.83 lakh cusecs was released into the sea from Dowleswaram anicut at Rajahmundry at 6pm. The Sriramsagar project at Pochampad, in Nizamabad, which was dry till recently, received 1 lakh cusecs.
