MLAs, seers among lakhs marooned in floods in Andhra

South India's biggest reservoir risks being washed away HYDERABAD: Kurnool MLA T G Venkatesh and Uttaradi mutt seer Swamy Ramamurty were among those stranded on roof-tops and pleading to be rescued as heavy rains caused the Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers to overflow, resulting in floods in Kurnool, Mahbubnagar, Nalgonda and Krishna districts in Andhra Pradesh over the last two days. Kurnool MP K Suryaprakash Reddy's family was stranded in their house.      Water from the two rivers flow into the Srisailam reservoir, one of the biggest dams in south India, which now faces the threat of being washed away because the reservoir is full, but continues to receive 21 lakh cusecs (cubic ft per second) of water as against its discharge capacity of 20 lakh cusecs.      Several dams downstream now face a similar threat. The districts likely to be affected are Vijayawada, Prakasam and Guntur.      These are the worst floods in 100 years. They have claimed at least 27 lives, stranded several thousand people and rendered over two lakh people homeless. Road traffic between Hyderabad and Bangalore has been affected and several trains were either rescheduled or diverted.      The temple town of Mantralayam, located on the banks of Tungabhadra river in Kurnool district on the AP-Karnataka border, was under 13 feet of water. Several hundred pilgrims and locals took shelter in whatever tall structures they came across. These include Sri Raghavendra Swami mutt head Sushmeendra Swamiji and local MLA Y Bala Nagi Reddy.      Besides its own resources, the State Government called in the army for rescue operations. A 120-member team of the National Disaster Response Force based in from Arakkonam in Tamil Nadu was also summoned to Hyderabad, from where it was sent to Kurnool and Mahbubnagar districts.  RAIN HAVOC IN KARNATAKA, 88 DEAD  BANGALORE: Torrential rains continued to wreak havoc in north Karnataka on Friday, taking the toll up to 88. Most of the 11 districts in the region have been inundated, as all rivers are flowing above the danger mark. Road and rail transport have also been badly hit.Affected districts are Raichur, Bagalkote, Bellary, Bijapur, Gulbarga, Gadag, Haveri, Koppal and Bidar. ANI Inundated streets in Kurnool on Friday as heavy rains continue to affect life in AP