Krishna district:
Danger lurks over the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh that is going to receive an unprecedented inflow of waters from the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam over the next few hours. The administration is trying to minimise losses.
The district takes its name from river Krishna and the farmers owe their prosperity to it. But now, the people are more scared and fearful of the steadily rising levels of the Krishna.
Over 10 lakh cusecs of water will reach Prakasam Barrage over the next few hours. That is expected to flood Vijayawada and several island villages. The administration has to evacuate another 1.3 lakh people by Monday morning to safer areas.
"It will take another 10-11 hours to reach Prakasam Barrage. Each time inflow is increasing, we are informing the Krishna district officials to take precautions," said Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah.
Even as the chief minister appealed to people living in vulnerable areas not to resist evacuation, several hundreds of people came on to the roads protesting that they had been forcibly moved out of their homes but were not given food or water.
"The police forced us out of our homes by 4 pm but no one has bothered about us after that," said a resident.
"We are out with our children and family. There is no food or even water packets," said another.
No one wants to see a repeat of the 1977 tragedy when 10,000 people lost their life just in this one district. The next few hours are critical.