Aurangabad, Jul 13 (PTI) As many as 200 families were shifted to safer locations in central Maharashtra"s Nanded district on Wednesday as the level of the Painganga river was rising owing to incessant rains, officials said.Road links to 26 villages in the district have been cut off due to floods, they added.The water of the Painganga began to enter low-lying areas along its banks following heavy rains for the last three days, and as a precaution, the administration shifted 200 families in Kinwat tehsil to safer places, said Sub Divisional Officer Kirti Kumar Pujari.The road between Nanded and Kinwat was flooded and hence closed for traffic, another official said.Nanded collector Dr Vipin Itankar contacted the collector of the neighbouring Nirmal district of Telangana in view of the heavy rainfall in the Godavari valley, he said.The Godavari flows through Nanded district before entering Telangana.Itankar also visited the Pochampad dam located on the border of Nanded and Nirmal districts. He was accompanied by Nirmal collector Musharraf Farooqui, officials said.Two persons were stranded on a bridge on Tuesday as the Sita river in Mudkhed area of Nanded was in flood. While Sawla Shinde, resident of Barad village, succeeded in reaching to safety on his own, railway employee Deepak Sharma was rescued by a State Disaster Response Force team on Wednesday morning.Collector Itankar appealed to people through a video message to stay at home and shift to a higher place if necessary.Seven domestic animals drowned in floodwaters in Umri and Loha tehsils of Nanded.Ten villages in Bhokar tehsil, two in Degloor, six in Ardhapur, three in Hadgaon and five in Nanded tehsil were cut off due to the floods, officials said.Fifteen families in Renapur in Bhokar tehsil were shifted to a Zilla Parishad school as a precaution, an official said. PTI AW KRK KRK