AP seeks Army choppers amid threat of Godavari flood

Andhra Pradesh government today requested the Army to position four helicopters for rescue operations as Bhadrachalam and surrounding areas along Godavari faced a severe flood threat with the river in spate.
This was informed by Revenue Minister N Raghuveera Reddy here.
A helicopter has already been deployed in Karimnagar to airdrop food packets to villages in Mahadevpur and Mahamuttaram mandals that remained marooned, he told reporters after a high-level review meeting here.
"About 11 lakh cusecs of flood water is currently being discharged at Bhadrachalam in Khammam district and it is expected to touch 25 lakh cusecs by late tonight. A third warning signal has been issued and people in low-lying areas will be moved to safety. Besides Khammam, we have also alerted the authorities of West and East Godavari districts in the downstream of Godavari," the Revenue Minister said.

Two teams comprising 18 members National Disaster Response Force each have been dispatched from Mangalagiri to Bhadrachalam for rescue and relief operations.
The minister said seven relief camps have been opened in Nizamabad district, five in Adilabad and four in Warangal where very heavy rains in the last five days threw normal life out of gear.
"We will open more relief camps wherever required. I spoke to collectors of seven districts and asked them to take all precautionary and preventive measures. We are also sending special officers - who served previously as Collectors there - to five districts to coordinate in rescue and relief operations.