Vijayawada, Sep 4 (IANS) The flood-hit parts of Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh remained marooned for the fourth day on Wednesday even as authorities continued rescue and relief operations.
The water level at Prakasam Barrage continued to recede, averting flood threat to villages downstream but the misery of people in inundated areas of the city has not ended.
Dozens of colonies were inundated following heavy rain and the breaches to the Budameru Rivulet.
Though the intensity of flood in the rivulet has come down, water from flooded areas is not flowing out.
The unprecedented floods have affected more than 2.70 lakh people in Vijayawada. Thousands of people have been shifted to relief camps.
Authorities continued dropping food and other relief materials through helicopters and drones. Boats and vehicles were also being used to supply food and drinking water packets to people in marooned neighbourhoods.
Officials said the flood fury has so far claimed 20 lives in the state. The NTR district accounted for 12 deaths and seven persons died in Guntur district. One death was reported from Palnadu district.
More than 6.44 lakh people have been affected by heavy rain and floods. Over 42,000 people were shifted to 193 relief camps. In the NTR district alone, 2.76 lakh people were affected by heavy rain and floods. Authorities opened 77 relief camps and shifted 14,160 people. Officials said 2.37 lakh people were affected in Krishna district. Over 9,000 people were shifted to 37 shelters.
As many as 26 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), 22 teams of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and two teams of the Navy were deployed for rescue and relief operations in flood-hit districts. A total of 21 NDRF teams, 12 SDRF teams and two Navy teams were deployed in Vijayawada.
According to the disaster management department, four helicopters of the Indian Air Force (IAF) and two helicopters of the Navy are airdropping food items and airlifting people stranded in inundated areas.
The choppers were used to airlift 21 people from the inundated areas and to airdrop huge quantities of food items like cooked food, water, milk, and medical kits.
A total of 228 boats (174 motorised and 54 non-motorised) were arranged to evacuate people from inundated areas. As many as 315 active swimmers were engaged along with boats for rescue operations.
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was still camping in Vijayawada to monitor rescue and relief operations.
Minister Kollu Ravindra and Vijayawada MP Kesneni Chinni on Wednesday morning supervised the distribution of food and drinking water packets
Meanwhile, flood flow has receded at Prakasam Barrage across the Krishna River in Vijayawada. The authorities have scaled down the warning level from two to one.
The inflow and outflow at the barrage have come down to 4.34 lakh cusecs, averting flood threat to villages downstream.
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