Flood waters receding fast in Krishna, Guntur districts

Hyderabad, Oct 8 (PTI) Flood water was Thursday receding
fast from several villages in Krishna and Guntur districts of
Andhra Pradesh even as the government stepped up sanitation
drive in the affected areas.

Several localities in Vijayawada city and some villages
in Krishna and Guntur districts had flood water but it was
receding, officials said here in the south_eastern state.

Water levels also came down in Rapalle town in Guntur
district, which faced inundation following breaches to the
Krishna Right Flood Bank, Vellaturu Branch Canal and Penumudi
- Lankavanidibba, state minister M Venkataramana Rao said.

Rao, who was supervising flood relief works at Rapalle,
said the flood water is likely to completely recede by the
evening or Friday.

The threat of fresh submergence of villages subsided as
the outflow from Prakasam Barrage at Vijayawada came down to
about 5.30 lakh cusecs against 10 lakh cusecs on Tuesday.

The water level at the barrage was 14.5 feet, officials
said.

The government has intensified relief and sanitation
works in flood-hit Mahaboobnagar, Kurnool, and Krishna
districts.

The administration has launched a massive sanitation
drive in Kurnool town by employing about 2,000 staff including
officers and personnel.

About 20 earth moving machines and large number of other
vehicles like tractors were being used to clear the slush and
mud which accumulated there.

The government also started distributing 60,000 medical
kits, containing chlorine tablets, soaps and phenyl to protect
people from infectious diseases. PTI SJR
JVN