Andhra rain claims 42 lives, damages crops in 8 lakh ha

Incessant rains lashing Andhra Pradesh for the last five days have claimed 42 lives so far in various rain-related incidents, official sources said here today. Five persons were also missing in the wake of heavy rains, triggered by a low pressure area and north east monsoon, and floods, the sources said.

Around 19 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been pitched in to rescue the flood-affected. The state had set up 225 rehabilitation camps and moved in 85,000 people those camps. It had set up 543 medical camps.

The downpour caused inundation of standing cotton, paddy, maize, groundnut, sugarcane, redgram, tobacco and also horticulture crops. Crops were damaged in 800,000 hectare and the loss of livestock stood at around 1,700.

The heavy rains led to breaches to 1,020 minor irrigation tanks and damaged around 4,000 km of highways.

Several rivers like Vamsadhara, Bahuda in Srikakulam and a number of rivulets were in spate. According to a report from Visakhapatnam, the heavy rains have brought transportation, power supply and communication services to a grinding halt in many areas of the north coastal districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam.

Weather forecasts suggest the north coastal parts of the state including Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Vizag, East and West Godavari, Guntur  would see rains with a wind speed of 40-50 kmph in the next 24 hours.