Heaviest flood in more than 100 years

Despite the heaviest flood in river Krishna in more than 100 years -- with 10 lakh cusecs gushing in at a menacing pace -- people in many villages are still reluctant to move to safer places.

A flood of this magnitude was never seen in the state's history and the discharge in the river Krishna is expected to cross 15 lakh cusecs by tomorrow.

It has become a herculean task for the authorities in Krishna, Nalgonda and Guntur districts to convince the affected people to move to safer places.

"The whole of last night, we spent time and effort in convincing people to be evacuated as the flood is of an unprecedented magnitude. We have so far moved 13,710 people from 16 villages in five mandals on the river bank to relief camps," Nalgonda district Collector S A M Rizvi told PTI.

He said many more people will have to be evacuated once the flood level crosses the 10 lakh cusecs mark.

Some of the people who were shifted to relief camps late last night returned to their houses this morning forcing the Nalgonda district administration to issue a stern warning and shift them back to the camps.

In Guntur district 4,000 people have already been moved to relief camps in 12 mandals while many more will be evacuated.

The inflow of water in the Srisailam dam was 28 lakh cusecs and outflow was 14.04 lakh cusecs. The inflow water in to the Srisailam dam is likely to come down by the evening, which may provide relief to Kurnool district.

In Nagarjunasagar dam, the outflow of water was 8.06 lakh cusecs.

The Revenue Minister said lakhs of food and water sachets and other relief material are being distributed to the flood victims in all the districts.

K V P Ramachandra Rao, advisor to the state government, said several ,inisters are involved in relief and rescue efforts in various districts.