Andhra Pradesh

Vijayavada, October 05: River Krishna virtually turned into a sea in all its fury on Monday as a record 10.61 lakh cusecs of flood water reached Prakasam Barrage, threatening to submerge some villages.

This is the heaviest flood in river Krishna in more than 106 years as the previous record stands at 10.30 lakh cusecs in 1903, irrigation authorities said.

The water level touched 21.4 feet at Prakasam Barrage and all the 72 sluice gates have been lifted to let out water into Bay of Bengal.

Vijayawada, October 05: Road traffic between Vijayawada and Hyderabad has been disrupted as flood water started flowing on the National Highway-9 at Ibrahimpatnam and Kanchikacharla villages in Krishna district late tonight.

Following this, authorities have started diverting vehicles including passenger buses from Suryapet towards Khammam.

Similarly, vehicles from Visakhapatnam going towards Hyderabad have been diverted via Jangareddigudem and Wyra, police said.

Hyderabad, October 05: The massive flood in the Krishna wreaked havoc in Krishna, Guntur and Nalgonda districts as enormous quantities of water were released from Nagarjunasagar dam and Vijayawada’s Prakasam Barrage inundating about 400 villages, including all island habitations, and rendering over 4 lakh people homeless.

Nandyal town in Kurnool district was engulfed by the swollen Kundu river on its outskirts which overflowed into the town and over 40 villages around as water from the Krishna joined it.

Hyderabad, October 05: Andhra Pradesh may be slowly limping out of the flood crisis, but a major challenge is awaiting state authorities in the form of shortage of drinking water and spread of diseases in thousands of villages.

The state has so far announced 33 deaths due to flood. But the loss of livestock is likely to be one of the highest in the history of the state. Krishna river is witnessing the worst-ever flood since 1903 and though the preparedness of the government machinery has helped check the loss of human lives, the receding water will throw up several unpleasant surprises.

Hyderabad, October 05: The Andhra Pradesh government Sunday suspended K.V. Brahmananda Reddy, managing director of state-owned Aviation Corporation Limited, allegedly for the delay in arranging a helicopter for the chief minister to undertake an aerial survey of flood-hit areas.

Though the government order cited no reason for the action, sources said the official had failed to arrange a chopper for Chief Minister K. Rosaiah on Saturday.

Nalgonda, October 04: The Nagarjunasagar Project (NSP) has received a record inflow of 14.1 lakh cusecs on Saturday, the highest in its 53-year history.

With heavy inflows from Srisailam Project (SRSP) continuing to flow in, officials estimate the volume of water to rise to 15 lakh cusecs.

The NSP was designed to discharge a maximum of 15.35 lakh cusecs. According to officials, Saturday’s outflow from NSP was 9.3 lakh cusecs.

The previous record was an inflow of 7.35 lakh cusecs in 1998. Then the outflow was 7.99 lakh cusecs.

Vijaywada, October 04: About 1.8 lakh people from vulnerable areas in Krishna district were shifted to 48 relief camps set up in the district as the level in Krishna river started rising.

Of the 1.8 lakh people shifted, around 1.3 lakh belonged to villages in 17 river bed mandals in the district identified as vulnerable. As many as 50,000 people from vulnerable areas in Vijayawada city were evacuated to relief camps in Vijayawada.

Kurnool, October 04: After three days of devastation caused by heavy rains and floods, the entire population in the town (about 10 lakh) barring some people in a couple of colonies were evacuated and shifted to safer places, mostly into relief camps set up by the district administration.

Four Army helicopters and 120 boats were pressed into service and by Saturday evening all those who took shelter for the past 48 hours on the terraces of buildings and high-rise apartments were shifted to safe places.

Kurnool, October 04: ‘‘It was a nightmare. I do not know how we survived the night, but we did it! I do not wish anyone to go through it,’’ Rauof recalled with a shudder. Rauof and his family, who live in Gaffar Khan Street on the Osmania College road here in Kurnool, had never imagined that they would be stranded in their own home. Not even when the road in front of their house was water logged by 10.30 a.m. on Friday.

Hyderabad, October 04: The unprecedented inflows into Krishna river have submerged the 770 MW power house of Srisailam Hydro Power Project in the wee hours of Saturday.

Anticipating trouble, the officials shutdown both the 770 MW power house on the right bank and also the 900 MW underground power house on the left bank of the reservoir on Friday night itself.

Power generation at Nagarjuna Sagar Project (NSP) was also affected with heavy inflows from Srisailam. Of the eight power generating units in the NSP, the third unit was flooded with water and the officials stopped the generation.

Hyderabad, October 04: The flood situation in Andhra Pradesh continued to be grim Sunday as three towns and over 200 villages in the worst-hit districts remained under water.

Though the inflows into Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers have slightly reduced, this has not ended the misery of people in Kurnool and Mahbubnagar, the two worst affected districts due to unprecedented floods over the last three days.

Hyderabad, October 03: Over 4.5 lakh people have been evacuated since massive floods inundated parts of Andhra Pradesh. Though the number of deaths due to the floods is 33, the toll is likely to increase further, Revenue Minister D Prasada Rao said on Saturday.

About 105 relief camps have been started in the districts of Kurnool, Mahaboobnagar, Krishna, Guntur and Nalgonda to help those affected by the floods.

Hyderabad, October 03: Thousands of people were trapped and a few lakh more were staring at a possible disaster as Andhra Pradesh witnessed unprecedented floods in the Krishna and its tributaries on Friday.

Srisailam reservoir has been receiving record inflows — over 20 lakh cusecs — and the water level has already crossed the FRL of 885 ft. With more than 10 lakh cusecs being discharged to prevent a threat to the dam, water levels in the Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir and Prakasam Barrage downstream have been rising every minute.

Hyderabad/Kurnool, October 03: What has triggered flooding of Kurnool town, depriving thousands of families shelter and subjecting them to untold suffering.

Tungabhadra which brushes past Kurnool town and Hundri which cuts the town into two are in spate simultaenously besides the local streams that are contributing their mite to the crisis which the administration is finding it difficult to cope up with.

This was in contrast to the floods in July 2007 when only Handri river swelled and inundated the areas adjacent to its course.

Hyderabad/Vijayawada, October 03: After Krishna’s tributary Tungabhadra turned Kurnool into a hell, now the Krishna river is all set to ensure a repeat of the nightmare in Vijayawada and several villages in Krishna district.

With inflows into Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar not abating and the officials letting out huge volumes of water downstream of the river, Prakasam barrage appears to be bracing for the great deluge.

Hyderabad, October 02: The assistant commissioner of Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Department in the city was found to be in possession of assets worth more than Rs 1 crore by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).

ACB sleuths conducted raids on the office of assistant commissioner E Krishna Mohan, situated on Urdu Lane in Himayathnagar and on his residence at Bhagyanagar Society in Kukatpally on Thursday.

Krishna Mohan has a house at Hayathnagar, two flats at Kukatpally and three house plots, one at Champapet and two at Uppal.

Hyderabad/ Kurnool, October 02: Mantralayam, the famous shrine of Sri Raghavendra Swami located on the banks of Tungabhadra on the AP-Karnataka border was cut of from the rest of the State. Hundreds of pilgrims and the Peethadhipathi Sri Sushmeendra Swamiji and the Mantralayam MLA Y. Bala Nagi Reddy and his family were among those taking on the first floor of various buildings as the temple town was under six feet of water.

Hyderabad, October 02: The Andhra Pradesh government Thursday ordered the release of 950 prisoners who are serving life imprisonment in various jails across the state.

State Home Minister P. Sabita Indra Reddy told reporters that the prisoners, whose prison terms were being shortened, would be released Friday on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.

The state government had decided to release the prisoners on Independence Day (Aug 15) but a petitioner had challenged the move in the Supreme Court.

Rajhmundary, October 01: N Anusha (17), who suffered knife injuries on her neck in an attack by a stalker Mattadi Rajesh, refused plastic surgery and prefers to keep the scar in memory of her parents who sacrificed their lives for saving her life.

It may be noted that the Rajesh, who nurtured a grudge against Anusha for spurning his love, attacked her at her residence and stabbed her on her neck and knee on September 17. He stabbed her father Srinu and mother Satyavathi, when they came to her rescue.

Hyderabad, October 01: Heavy rain lashed Andhra Pradesh killing six people, inundating several villages, damaging crops and disrupting transport and communication links, officials said Thursday.

The heavy rain, which has been incessant since Wednesday, was due to a low pressure area over the Bay of Bengal. It continued to lash several parts of the state, throwing normal life out of gear.

Hyderabad, October 01: Principal Secretary of Health and Family Welfare, Andhra Pradesh L V Subramanyam has urged the industry to take precautionary measures against H1N1 swine flu and educate the vulnerable groups like the marketing team on the same.

Addressing the gathering at an awareness session on Swine flu -prevention and precaution- organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, Andhra Pradesh and the state government, he asked the industry to gear up their CSR activities to create awareness among the industry about the deadly virus.

Hyderabad, September 30: A day after senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member V Hanumantha Rao is alleged to have received threatening telephone calls, the Amberpet police reportedly picked up a youth from Karimnagar district who had made the call to the MP.

The youth identified as Mahipal Reddy is said to be a follower of another senior Congress leader.

Sources said that the anti-goonda squad picked up Mahipal Reddy after obtaining the details of the caller from the service provider.

Hyderabad, September 30: Loyalists of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy are growing more belligerent as the Congress high command is toughening its stand, making it clear that it alone will decide the party affairs in AP.

Hyderabad, September 30: The State Government has decided to extend the term of Chief Secretary P Ramakanth Reddy for three more months.

A decision to this effect was taken today and the orders are expected to be issued in a day or two.

Ramakanth Reddy was to retire tomorrow on attaining superannuation.

But the Government has decided to extend his service for three more months till December end.

As there was no need to take permission from the Centre to extend the term for three months, the Government has decided to go ahead with its decision.

Hyderabad, September 30: The infighting in the ruling Congress party in Andhra Pradesh took a bitter turn as loyalists of the late chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy Wednesday hit back at a senior leader for terming as “bogus” the subsequent reported deaths of 600 people.

A day after Rajya Sabha member V. Hanumantha Rao said the reported shock deaths following the demise of YSR in a helicopter crash in August were a publicity stunt, some ministers and legislators challenged him to prove this.