At least 17 people have died so far in Andhra Pradesh due to floods and incidents triggered by heavy rain as the state government deployed drones and helicopters to drop food packets and water as the state’s administrative headquarters Vijayawada battled one of the worst floods in recent times.

With one-third of the city under water NDRF teams and state administration pressed into service six helicopters and drones to drop food, biscuits, milk and medicines among the people stranded in areas still inaccessible.

According to a statement issued by the state government, over 2.5 lakh people, mostly in the low lying areas, were affected. There is no power and drinking water has also turned scarce as the ground floor of most of the houses were still under water.

Around 1,80,224 hectares of agricultural land and 15,109 hectares of land under horticultural farming have been inundated due to floods in the state.

The state administration has prepared five lakh food and drinking water packets. As many as 26 NDRF teams and 21 SDRF teams were deployed for rescue operations.

Around 14,160 people have been shifted to relief camps in NTR district so far. Chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu continued his visits to the flood affected areas.

According to the TDP the 74-year-old chief minister who has been camping in his caravan since Sunday has covered some 22 kms during his visits to the various flood affected areas. Former chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy also announced a donation worth Rs one crore for the aid of flood victims.

Already the Krishna River was in spate recording an inflow of 11.43 cusecs of floodwaters and the Budameru canal which flows through the city also was flooded inundating areas like Ajit Singh Nagar and other new colonies.

Although the government deployed helicopters and drones to drop food and drinking water many residents complained about scarcity of water. The residents of houses at the end of the streets are the ones which are struggling to get help from the authorities.

Meanwhile, many Telugu actors announced that they would donate large amounts for the flood affected.