Incessant rains pounding the State for the last three days brought death and destruction on Thursday. As many as 12 people died — including three in Hyderabad and four in Prakasam district — and standing crops in 2.49 lakh hectares were damaged.
Seven persons died in separate incidents of wall collapse, including three at Vijayanagar Colony in Hyderabad, two in Guntur and one each in Kurnool, Vizianagaram and West Godavari districts.
Officials said 1,884 houses were damaged and 4,612 people evacuated from low-lying areas to 15 relief camps. Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, who reviewed the situation with Revenue Minister N Raghuveera Reddy and other ministers, directed the officials to make efforts to save lives and minimise damage to the maximum extent possible.
“We will open more relief camps to shift people from low-lying areas,” Raghuveera Reddy said. NDRF teams too were deployed and district collectors were given the authority to draw funds under the TR-27 account to provide immediate relief to the
rain-hit. In Hyderabad, three persons including a five-year-old, were killed and two others injured when the wall of a government college collapsed on their thatched house at Kotamma Basti in Vijayanagar colony.
They were all from Bheemavaram in West Godavari district. Meanwhile, water level at Hussainsagar rose alarmingly on Thursday up to its Full Tank Level of 513.41 metres. However, officials said there was no need to panic as the situation is under control. Residents in low-lying areas will be alerted if the water level rises further.
Srikakulam district, which bore the burnt of cyclone Phailin recently, was again battered by heavy rain. Streams and rivulets are overflowing and at some places, rain water has submerged roads and railway tracks, forcing the authorities to regulate both rail and road traffic.The situation in Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam is no different with rains throwing normal life out of gear.
Several tanks and ponds are brimming with rain water. In Visakhapatnam city, two houses and a compound wall of an apartment complex collapsed. Fortunately, no casualties were reported.
Water levels in several water bodies in the twin Godavari districts are raising at alarming rates. According to East Godavari district collector Neetu Prasad, standing crops in 15,387 hectares were damaged. With the threat of inundation in low-lying areas of Kakinada turning real, 1,200 people were shifted to relief centres.
The crop damage in Krishna and Guntur districts was rextensive. In Vijayawada, roads seemed like canals with rain water completely submerging them. With increased inflows into Krishna from upstream areas, officials have opened 69 gates and began discharging water into the sea at the rate of 50,000 cusecs.
In Prakasam, overflowing tanks and ponds are giving sleepless nights to people living downstream. In Chinnaganjam area of the district, Kommauru canal was breached. Eight passengers of an RTC bus were saved by police and revenue officials after the vehicle was washed away in Musi stream. Road connectivity to more than 80 villages was cut off.
Extensive crop damage was also reported from Kurnool district with several streams in spate and the breaching of the Tungabhadra Lower Canal near Bellary in Karnataka. Kundu river is flowing above danger levels cutting off road connectivity between several villages.