Hyderabad:
24 people have died in four days and 67,000 have been evacuated to government shelters as many parts of coastal Andhra Pradesh are flooded after heavy rains brought by the Cyclone Nilam that hit Indian shores last week, and the northeast monsoon. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy and extended all possible assistance for relief and rehabilitation, his office tweeted this evening. The PM also directed Mr Reddy to constantly monitor the situation. Meanwhile, the state's Revenue Minister Raghuveera Reddy has blamed the Meteorological department for the damage caused by these floods, saying it was unable to predict northeast monsoon.
Here are the latest developments:
The affected districts are: Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam, East and West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and Khammam. Many low-lying places are inundated; around 150 villages are cut off and crops spread over 2.5 lakh hectares are under water. More rainfall is expected in the next 24 hours.
The Railways have cancelled 14 trains and diverted some others. Bus services too are disrupted as roads are flooded. Schools in these affected districts remain closed.
Narsapuram in west Godavari has received 31 cm rain, the highest in years. A danger signal has been raised at the Nagavali river, four power substations are under water and there is no electricity in 72 villages in the Vishaka agency area. The rivulet Tammineru Vagu near Eluru in west Godavari is overflowing, flooding railway tracks.
Traffic to Orissa from north coastal Andhra Pradesh has been shut down as a bridge at Palakonda has developed cracks.
Two Navy helicopters rescued around 70 people from the swollen Meghadri Gedda rivulet in Visakhapatnam. A similar operation was on to save passengers of two buses caught in the waters of the Dharmavaram stream.
16 people were evacuated from a vedic school near Tuni. Many localities are under knee-deep water around Rajahmundry, Tanuku and Tuni.
At Satyavaram in Srikakulam district, villagers spent the day on roof-tops till help reached them.
Andhra Pradesh revenue minister Raghuveera Reddy has blamed the damage caused by the floods on the weather office. He said the Indian Meteorological Department had warned that cyclone Nilam could affect a couple of districts in the state but failed to predict the heavy downpour that caused havoc in the coastal districts over the last three days. The state government had earlier said that cyclone Nilam would have no adverse impact and may in fact benefit farmers in the state.
Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy will tour the affected districts on Tuesday. TDP leaders N Chandrababu Naidu and YS Vijayamma, YSR Congress leader and Jagan Mohan Reddy's mother, are already visiting the flood-affected areas.
Every time there is heavy rain and flooding, questions are raised about the poor drainage system in the coastal districts. That has remained unaddressed year after year. "East and West Godavari districts the drainage system certainly has to be improved and right now the works are going on," said Sridhar Babu, Civil Supplies minister.
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