World | India
Week of heavy rains claims 78 lives, leaves trail of woes
Heavy monsoon since last week have claimed 78 lives and wreaked havoc in several parts of the country, especially Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, but farmers in Maharashtra are happy that the drought-like situation in the state is at an end.
- IANS
- Published: 23:22 August 11, 2008
Hyderabad/Mumbai: Heavy monsoon since last week have claimed 78 lives and wreaked havoc in several parts of the country, especially Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, but farmers in Maharashtra are happy that the drought-like situation in the state is at an end.
In Andhra Pradesh, heavy monsoon rains since Tuesday have triggered flash floods in the capital and nine other districts. The death toll in the state rose to 74 yesterday with the recovery of one more body from near a spot where a truck carrying 35 people was washed away on Sunday.
The police said the body was fished out from an overflowing rivulet in Guntur district. While 10 people had been rescued immediately after the truck got caught in flood waters, 10 bodies were recovered later. A search is still continuing for the other missing persons.
Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy visited the accident site, about 300 km from Hyderabad, and met the survivors.
Reddy also conducted an aerial survey of West Godavari, Krishna and Guntur districts, where heavy rains and flash floods have left a trail of destruction. K. Ratna Prabha, commissioner of disaster management, said 61 people have been killed since Friday. She told reporters that 40,000 people had taken shelter in relief camps set up in seven districts.
In Orissa, at least four people have been killed while six others have been reported missing following flash floods caused by heavy rain since Thursday.
In Maharashtra, several flights to and from Mumbai were held up yesterday, with some being diverted to Ahmedabad.
However, farmers in the state welcomed the downpour, which wiped away fears of a drought.
Train services disrupted
Landslides affected rail traffic between Mumbai and Pune and forced authorities to cancel six inter-city trains. Flights were delayed at the Mumbai International Airport to let authorities take up maintenance work.
Heavy rains had disrupted the scheduled maintenance of the runway on Friday, said Manish Kalghatgi, Mumbai International Airport Limited spokesman. "Due to incessant rains and continuous traffic movement impacting the runways, the top surface may have become loose," he said.
- Pamela Raghunath, Correspondent
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