At least 227 people were killed after the receding monsoon unleashed its fury with record-breaking rain and floods in parts of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, officials said.
At least 227 people were killed after the receding monsoon unleashed its fury with record-breaking rain and floods in parts of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, officials said.
The toll in Karnataka since Wednesday due to the rain, caused by a deep depression in the Bay of Bengal, was put at 156, while in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh there were 50 deaths and 21 deaths in Maharashtra.
The flood situation in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka showed signs of improvement with water level starting to recede Saturday after three days of torrential rain.
Rescue and relief operations by army helicopters, boats and teams from the National Disaster Relief Force were continuing in the two states.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah told reporters in Hyderabad that the flood waters in the worst-hit Kurnool were receding slowly.
This came as a relief to the 500,000 people as Kurnool town, about 250 km from Hyderabad, was facing the threat of complete submergence since Friday evening due to massive floods in the Krishna river and its tributaries.
However, authorities in Krishna and Guntur districts remained on high alert in view of huge inflows reaching Prakasam Barrage near Vijayawada city.
In Karnataka too, flood waters in the northern districts were receding and officials were confident of rescuing all marooned people by late Saturday.
"Almost all marooned people have been rescued. Over 150,000 people are taking shelter in 583 relief camps," HV Parashwanath, secretary of Karnataka Disaster Management Authority, said in Bangalore.
"More than 350 villages were affected by the rain and subsequent floods, worst since 1972 in north Karnataka," Parashwanath added.
Eight helicopters, 40 boats and a 105-member team of the National Disaster Relief Force were taking part in the rescue and relief operations.
Over 20,000 food packets were airdropped for the marooned people, he said.
The water level at the Srisailam dam across the Krishna river in Andhra Pradesh was 10 feet above its full reservoir level of 885 feet but the declining levels in the Tungabhadra and Handri rivers provided some relief to Kurnool town.
Sixteen helicopters and 600 army personnel besides Disaster Management Response Force and state police had taken up rescue and relief operations. Rosaiah said over 200,000 food and water sachets were being air dropped in the affected districts.
Boats and army personnel have also been pressed into service in Vijayawada city and several villages in Krishna district facing the danger of inundation due to heavy inflows in Prakasam barrage.
Rescue workers found 16 bodies at a few places in Kurnool and Mahabubnagar. Commissioner, disaster management, Dinesh Kumar said eight deaths each were reported from Mahabubnagar and Kurnool districts. These deaths are in addition to 26 people reported dead till Friday.
The worst floods in the region in 100 years have left a trail of destruction, rendering over 200,000 homeless in Kurnool, Mahabubnagar, Guntur and Krishna districts and damaging standing crops over a vast area.
Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa undertook an aerial survey of the affected areas. He said the government would bear the cost of building partially or fully damaged houses.
Meteorological officials said in Bangalore that while rain would abate in north Karnataka, coastal Karnataka districts of Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada was receiving heavy rain.
In Maharashtra at least 19 people were killed in 24 hours till Saturday evening, state Chief Secretary Johny Joseph said, adding that at least 72 people were also rescued from various parts of the state in the same period. Two people were earlier killed in Chandrapur.
In the 48 hours to Saturday evening, Vengurla in Ratnagiri district recorded 442 mm of rain - the highest in over three decades, followed by Kudal which recorded 422 mm, a district official said.
Life has been thrown out of gear since Thursday with torrential rain in the entire southern Konkan belt comprising Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts.
The Moti lake in the centre of Sawantwadi town overflowed for the first time in over a century and Sindhudurg district, bordering Goa, has recorded over 370 mm of rain in the past two days, said a district official.
Most major towns and villages in the coastal areas have been under two to three feet of flood water as local rivers swelled with the heavy rain.
Traffic on the Mumbai-Goa highway came to a standstill since early Saturday, stranding several thousands of tourists on both sides and en route.
Nearly 100 people traveling in three luxury tourist buses spent Friday night on the roofs of their vehicles as flood water entered the vehicles on the Mumbai-Goa highway.
Ratnagiri district officials finally managed to put a team in place and rescued them Saturday afternoon.
Train operations were badly hit on the Konkan Railway that connects Mumbai with Kerala on the west coastal route.
Electricity and telecommunication lines have been severely hit in most areas, hampering relief and rescue operations.
Meanwhile, the met department has forecast heavy rain and thundershowers over Mumbai and parts of the Konkan in the next 48 hours to Monday.
Six sub-districts in three districts were placed on high alert for floods for the next 24 hours till Sunday.
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