Storm warning in coastal Andhra as flood death toll rises to 25

Hyderabad: The death toll in the week-long heavy rains and floods in coastal Andhra Pradesh has reached 25, as the military were put on alert for an approaching storm.

The low pressure area in the south Andaman Sea has intensified into a depression and the Cyclone Warning Centre, Visakhapatanam, has warned that it will further intensify into a storm before hitting the north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra coast on Friday.

The weather disturbance, which was tracked at 1,500km southeast of Visakhapatanam, was moving in a westerly direction. On speculation that this could be as powerful as a super cyclone, Venkateshwarulu, director, CWC, said that it depends on its course and the speed it gains while moving towards the coast.

However the state government has already put the navy and air force on stand by to lend help if the need arises.

Normal life was crippled in seven districts of coastal Andhra as unprecedented rains flooded more than a thousand villages, displaced half a million people and brought the transport system to a halt as roads and railway tracks were under water.

Chief Minister K. Rosaiah, who reviewed the situation with ministers and senior officials, said all the necessary precautionary measures were being taken and the officials were asked to monitor the situation round the clock. District collectors were asked to alert the people living in low lying areas and

The chief minister painted a grim picture of the devastation caused by heavy rains in coastal Andhra over the last one week.

In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, the chief minister said that the state had received 100 per cent excess rain compared to normal rainfall.

The chief minister said the rains had displaced about 600,000 people, fully damaging 9,694 houses. Another 87,390 houses were partially damaged.

Aerial survey

Rosaiah sought advance assistance from the central government to deal with the situation.

He also directed the ministers to rush to the affected areas to help in the relief work.

"If the weather permits me, I will undertake an aerial survey of East and West Godavari and Krishna districts on Thursday," he said.

Agriculture Minister Raghuveera Reddy said that in Krishna district alone 50,000 acres (over 202 million square metres) of various crops, including sugar and tobacco, were damaged.

Weather officials said that the coastal Andhra will start feeling the impact of the storm from tomorrow onwards as it will cause heavy to very heavy rains accompanied by gale winds.

The latest storm threat has come even as heavy rains and flooding in coastal Andhra has resulted in the death of 25 people over the last five days and forced more than 30,000 people to move to relief camps. Another storm was threatening the south coast of Andhra Pradesh. Visakhapatanam has reported 10 deaths while seven people died in East Godavari district.

In the latest rain related mishap, a house collapsed in Keshana village in East Godavari district yesterday morning killing two people. Deaths have been reported in East and West Godavari, Visakhapatanam, Nellore and Prakasham.

In Visakhapatanam district rail service was hit as flood waters were flowing above the tracks leading to the derailing of an iron ore-laden train. Ten houses were also damaged in a landslide at Yellamanchali.

Public transport was also badly hit in many places in the region as the roads and the tracks were submerged in flood waters.