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More than 50,000 people evacuated

More than 50,000 people have been evacuated from 97 villages in Andhra Pradesh which were flooded by heavy rains and the sudden release of a huge quantity of water from the Nagarjunasagar reservoir into the Krishna river.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who reviewed the situation at a high-level meeting in the capital Hyderabad, later undertook an aerial survey of the areas.

Helicopters have been pressed into service to supply essential commodities to the affected people.

The evacuees -- more than 40,000 of them from Krishna district alone, from low-lying areas on either bank of the river -- have been accommodated in 126 relief camps where food, potable water, and medical facilities have been arranged.

Forty boats were deployed for the evacuation.

The river's level rose to 19.5 ft, just 2 feet below the danger mark, in Vijayawada.

Diviseema in Krishna district remained cut off from the outside world.

UNI

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