Heavy rains in Andhra Pradesh takes death toll to 20

The death toll in the current spell of torrential rains battering the state in the past five days rose to at least 20 on Friday, even as dozens of town and hundreds of villages were inundated by rain waters.
A source in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), confirming the deaths, told Arab News that over 68,000 people had been so far evacuated from low-lying areas in several towns and villages to 135 relief camps set up in seven districts. The deaths were reported from different districts covering all the three regions of the state, he added.
The heavy rains also caused massive damage to standing crops spread over 435,000 hectares of land including 200,000 hectares of cotton across the state, the source said, adding that the focus may now shift from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema to Telangana region with the weatherman forecasting very heavy rains in the next 24 hours.
Official sources said over 350 houses were damaged in the rains in Srikakulam, Guntur, Krishna, Prakasam, Nalgonda, Mahabubnagar, Vizianagaram and the two Godavari districts. The unprecedented rains have badly affected normal life in all the three regions of the state — Telangana, coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema.
The sources said 117 irrigation tanks in the state were damaged, most of them in the north coastal Andhra district of Srikakulam where Vamsadhara River is in spate. Traffic movement on the Andhra-Odisha Highway has virtually come to a halt following flooding of roads. Besides, several trains have also been cancelled or diverted due to submergence of railway tracks in many places. The situation was similar in several districts of coastal Andhra and Telangana with road links cut off following flooding of roads.
Thousands of people in villages continue to be marooned as flood waters from swollen rivulets swirled around them persistently. The rains have inundated crops over 2.49 lakh hectares including cotton crops over 1.31 lakh hectares and paddy in 1.07 lakh hectares. The state has been experiencing torrential downpour under the impact of a low pressure area and a vigorous northeast monsoon.
Nine teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been pressed into service for rescue and relief operations. Four teams were sent to Srikakulam, three to Guntur and one each to Nalgonda and West Godavari district.
Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy reviewed the situation in Hyderabad and directed officials carry out rescue and relief operations effectively.
With the met office warning of heavy rains over the next two days, district collectors all over the state have been asked to be on high alert and evacuate more people from low-lying areas.