HYDERABAD, 6 August 2006 — Floods caused by heavy monsoon rains killed 12 more people in Andhra Pradesh and shut down one of its key airports for a third day, officials said yesterday.
At least 46 people have died this week in Andhra Pradesh, where this year’s monsoon deluge has submerged hundreds of villages and forced tens of thousands of people out of their homes, said Chief Minister Y. Rajasekhara Reddy.
The casualties in Andhra Pradesh brought the nationwide death toll from this year’s monsoon rains to 354, according to reports from local officials in various parts of the country. An accurate national death toll is not kept, and the total number of people killed across the country is likely much higher.
Most of those killed either drown in floods, are crushed when poorly built houses collapse or are electrocuted when raging waters expose live wires.
The monsoon season, which runs from April to September, is eagerly awaited each year in India, where some 600 million people depend on agriculture for a living. However, it also brings widespread destruction, and thousands are affected annually in flooding.
In Andhra Pradesh, the downpour has intensified in the past week, disrupting the state’s road transport network and forcing authorities to shut schools and offices across eight districts. The airport at Vishakapatnam, the state’s port capital, remained shut for the third day after water from overflowing river submerged its runway, said Debabrata Kantha, the state’s top disaster management official.
About 60,000 people have been evacuated to safer places in the past week, Kantha said.
But there is more trouble in store as the meteorological department predicted more rains in the region.
Another seven deaths were reported from Orissa over the last two days, NDTV network reported. All the fatalities were reported from the Koraput district, where thousands of houses were destroyed in the rains. However, the flood situation has improved in the state as the rains eased overnight.
Maharashtra and Gujarat have also received heavy rainfall in the past few days. Early yesterday, a four-story residential and commercial complex collapsed in Akola in Maharashtra, trapping 22 people.
Fire services and local authorities, which saved three people, were carrying out rescue operations in the city.
In flood-hit Chhattisgarh, the army began rescue and relief operations in Dantewada district. Incessant rains for the past three days have submerged around 60 villages and the three rivers of the district — Indravati, Sabri and Sankhani — are in spate.
According to district authorities, thousands of people are stranded as rainwater has inundated villages and in some areas people climbed on to rooftops of government buildings and schools and were crying out for help. However, the administration could not launch rescue operations due to the continuous heavy rains. In the interior areas of the district, people took to climbing treetops to save themselves.
“Luckily, the army has reached with two planes from Uttar Pradesh and has begun relief and rescue operations. At least 100,000 people have been marooned in the district,” Dantewada District Collector K.R. Pisda told reporters via telephone.
— Additional input from IANS
