HYDERABAD: The scene of floods got shifted to Rayalaseema and Telangana on Sunday even while coastal Andhra, especially Visakhapatnam and Kakinada, struggled to cope with heavy inundation.

There was a respite in the heavy rain for the day but the toll mounted to 33. The low-pressure area which caused torrential rain weakened and fizzled out.

However, the North-East monsoon remained active resulting in moderate rain at some places.

The letup in the downpour came as a great relief to Visakhapatnam, Kakinada and other coastal towns where some areas are still under water.

Tributaries in spate

Collecting rain runoff, tributaries of the Pennar and Tungabhadra and several streams in the Rayalaseema region swelled abruptly, flooding habitations in Mantralayam, Kurnool and Kadapa towns.

Vast stretches of fields including just-sown paddy, were inundated in the Kadapa-Kurnool belt.

A boy was washed away in the Papagni, a tributary of the Pennar. Many residential areas in Kurnool remained under a sheet of water with the Tungabhadra being in spate on one side and the Handri on the other.

Buggavanka, near Kadapa town, was in flash floods. The cumulative effect was that heavy inflows joined the Somasila project which in turn had to make heavy discharges to the Kandaleru reservoir.

The Srisailam dam received heavy inflows and the situation was such that the dam authorities were releasing three lakh cusecs of water lifting nine gates, even after sending out huge quantities through the Pothiyreddypadu head regulator and hydel stations.

A similar situation prevailed in the Godavari too. Torrential rain in Maharashtra brought two lakh cusecs to the Srisamsagar project and all 42 gates of the dam were lifted to let out huge quantity of water.

In Mahabubnagar district, eight persons lost their lives in rain-related incidents, including six in collapse of houses.

Officials helpless

The Visakhapatnam airport continued to be under water for the second day and officials said it might take a week for resumption of flights. The Meghadrigedda drain continued to flow.

As the area is under the control of the Navy, the State Government could not do anything. It asked officials to pump out water from inundated areas in Visakhapatnam and Kakinada, using heavy duty motors.

The water-logging in these two cities was such that officials expressed helplessness to carry out pumping operations.

Ex gratia

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy reviewed the situation with Disaster Management Commissioner Shashank Goel and instructed the Collectors of 13 affected districts not to delay distribution of relief and to clear water.

Revenue Minister Dharmana Prasada Rao said the families of the dead would get ex gratia under the Apathbandu scheme.

It was not clear whether Rs. 1 lakh compensation from the Prime Minister's Relief Fund was applicable to the flood deaths, he said.

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