Floods kill 37 in Andhra Pradesh

Over 13 lakh people were affected in five districts of Andhra Pradesh following unprecedented floods in Krishna river basin which has claimed 37 lives so far, official sources said in Hyderabad on Sunday. The flood claimed 15 lives in Kurnool, 16 in Mahabubnagar, three in Krishna, two in Nalgonda and one in Guntur district, they said, adding that the toll may go up.

According to officials 6,295 livestock also perished in the five districts with 6,189 cattle loss reported in the worst-affected Kurnool district alone. As many as 478 villages in 87 'mandals' have been severely hit in the last four days with the heaviest flood in river Krishna in last more than 100 years.

Over 13 IAF helicopters have been pressed into service to drop food packets and water sachets in the flood-hit areas and rescue people from inundated areas in the five districts,they said. Over 42,000 houses were damaged in Kurnool district followed by 11,680 in Mahabubnagar and 628 houses in Nalgonda district, they said. 
     
Massive relief and rehabilitation measures were underway in the flood-affected regions with deployment of 1,058 swimmers and 550 army personnel to rescue those marooned in the submerged villages, they said. Services of 351 boats were also being taken to evacuate the people to safer places. So far 4,73,765 people have been shifted to safer places and 2.57 lakh others to 293 relief camps, the sources said.