Rain fury on in Andhra, Karnataka toll mounts to 194

Vijayawada/Bellary, Oct 5 (PTI) Over 50 villages in
India's southern state of Andhra Pradesh on either side of
river Krishna were inundated as a record 11 lakh cusecs of
water reached Prakasam Barragec Monday even as week-long rains
showed signs of abating in north Karnataka but the death toll
mounted to 194.

Many colonies along the left bank of Krishna river in
Vijayawada city got submerged as the flood level touched four
feet this evening. The situation is expected to remain grim
till Wednesday as the flood discharge at Prakasam Barrage will
continue to be over 11 lakh cusecs, officials said.

UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi undertook an aerial
survey of the ravaged areas in Bellary district and Chief
Minister B S Yeddyurappa, who accompanied her, said the state
suffered an unprecedented damage exceeding Rs 20,000 crore.

Torrential rains left a trail of death and destruction
in 15 districts of Karnataka damaging over two lakh houses in
1,467 villages subsided since Sunday.

Bijapur district bore the brunt of the rain fury with
31 deaths followed by Raichur and Bagalkote (26 each). Over
4.53 lakh people have been sheltered in 13,330 relief camps.

A 500 m-long bridge across Tungabhadra river, 32 km
from Raichur, was washed away in flood waters, officials said.

The Krishna river experienced the heaviest flood since
1903, when it had 10.30 lakh cusecs of flood waters.

The water level touched 21.4 feet at Prakasam Barrage
and all the 72 crest gates have been lifted to let out water
into Bay of Bengal. Irrigation authorities said the current
flood discharge at Nagarjuna Sagar has been reduced to 10.3
lakh cusescs from 11 lakh cusecs Sunday.

In Krishna district, two children drowned in the
swirling river at Patayedlalanka village near Avanigadda
while nine adults swam to safety after the boat in which they
were travelling capsized late this evening.

The villagers were moving to a nearby relief camp from
their village when the mishap occurred. National Disaster
Response Force personnel have been on duty in this part of the
district to evacuate trapped villagers to safety. District
authorities said more than 1.5 lakh people have already been
moved to relief camps. Some villages got marooned but there
is no threat to any one as such. In such cases we are sending
food and other relief material to the trapped people.

Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah
urged the Centre to consider the devastating floods in the
state as a national calamity and provide Rs 6,000 crore for
relief works immediately. In a letter to Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh, Rosaiah said the preliminary estimate of
damages due to heavy rains and floods arrives at Rs 12,225
crore.

The Centre stepped up relief and rescue operations in
both the states where the fury unleashed by the retreating
monsoon have claimed over 240 lives and caused widespread
destruction of property.

The Centre rushed in additional trained personnel and
more motorised boats to help rescue operations in five
districts each of the two states bearing the brunt of
incessant rains and flooding. PTI TEAM