In Andhra Pradesh rains continue to wreack havoc. Incessant rains have claimed at least 53 lives; brought traffic to a standstill and have damaged thousand of acres of crops. Rescue and relief operations are on war footing in several districts

With the meteorological officials’ predicting that rains are likely to continue for the next 36 hours due to low depression in the Bay of Bengal, people are under constant fear. In Hyderabad city, the Hussain Sagar lake’s water level has reached dangerous level and four people are reported to be missing. Crops have been damaged in lakhs of acres. As many as 800 tanks have got breached and thousands of houses have collapsed.
The rain havoc has hit roadways and rail traffic too. With the overflowing of several drains and reservoirs, the road traffic from Vijayawada to Hyderabad and temple town Bhadrachalam was disrupted. The district headquarter, Khammam was cut off from other parts of the state due to water-logging.

Lakes, creeks and water bodies are all overflowing with many of them breaching their levels and marooning colonies and roads. Hyderabad city received a record 20.84cm of rain in a downpour between 8.30am on Friday and 8.30pm on Saturday according to the meteorological office reports.


Most of the trains are running late for hours, while some trains are suspended or partially suspended as water overflow on rail tracks are reported in some parts. As the sea too is in a disturbed condition, weather officials warned fishermen not to enter the sea for fishing.


More miseries have been predicted as weathermen forecast that the downpour will continue for the next two days in the wake of a well-marked low pressure area in the Bay of Bengal that may concentrate into a depression. The government has requested the IAF to keep two helicopters on standby at Hakimpet air base for rescue operations.
People living in areas below the Hussainsagar lake were gripped by fear as water reached the full tank level of 514.75 metres, but, officials reassured them that there was no danger. The water covered roads and rail tracks, slowing down the traffic. Trains were slowed down on the Vijayawada-Warangal stretch and the Krishna, Golconda and Gorakpur-Trivandrum Express trains stopped for an hour.


The rain havoc started in Hyderabad city on Friday evening gave some relief after midnight on Saturday. However, people are expecting rains again on Sunday.


The crops have been badly affected in Krishna, West Godavari, East Godavari and Khammam districts. The Vamsadhara in Srikakulam had crossed the first warning level. Budameru and Munneru drains in Krishna district are flowing above the danger mark.


Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy expressed displeasure over the municipal administration officials’ inaction in clearing the drains to avoid water-logging in different parts of the city. He conducted high level review meeting on the situation on Saturday and will be conducting such meeting on Sunday too. He directed the collectors to be vigilant and announced ex-gratia of Rs one lakh to the families of the dead.


State president Bandaru Dattatreya, and city president Ramachandra Reddy criticised the ’inaction of the administration’ in finding solutions to problems pertaining to traffic, water scarcity, power cuts, sewerage and flooding in the city. They demanded measures on war-footing to meet the emergency situation created by continuous rain and floods in the city.