Four persons who were travelling by boat in Godavari River were missing.
The river was in spate for the last 20 days, and the police had appealed to the villagers not to travel by small boats.
The missing were identified as A. Sri Hari and T. Yesu of Purushothapatnam and Venkanna and Babi of Gandipochamma villages in East Godavari district.
They ventured into the Godavari River two days ago to collect firewood, but did not return, the police said on Thursday.
The ITDA, police and expert swimmers launched a search for the missing persons in the river at Gutala, Patha Polavaram and in the downstream.
"We received information about the disappearence of the four youth through their family members, and the Irrigation officials and swimmers were asked to search in the flood waters at Rajamahendravaram and Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage at Dowleswaram," a police officer said.
Godavari in spate
The river which was in spate due to heavy rains and huge inflows in the upstream, was rising.
Water level, which touched 42.5 feet at Bhadrachalam on Thursday morning was still on the rise, Irrigation officials said.
Water level at Coffer dam was 26.3 metres and at Polavaram was 12.2 metres.
At Sir Arthur Cotton (SAC) Barrage, Dowleswaram, flood level was recorded at 10.2 metres, and the discharge was about 8 lakh cusecs into the sea.
The Irrigation, Revenue, Police, Fire, A.P. Transco, Medical and Health, Panchayat Raj and other department personnel were put on alert as flood level was increasing.
Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) Project Officer R.V. Suryanarayana said that State and National Disaster Response Forces were kept ready in low lying areas as a precautionary measure.
