FLOOD OF WOES: A man carries his daughter on his shoulders while walking through the flooded NH-214 at Mopidevi in Krishna district on Thursday. - PHOTO: CH. VIJAYA BHASKAR

HYDERABAD: Life for an estimated 10 lakh people in Krishna, Guntur and Prakasam districts turned out to be an ordeal as flood water stagnated in a large number of villages and towns although there was a slight let-up in the rain on the sixth day on Thursday.

Hundreds of families are spending days at a stretch amid muddy waters without potable water and power supply, and even food in some cases. As many as 580 villages in 29 mandals were flooded in Krishna district, which remained the worst hit. The death toll mounted to 28, including 12 in Prakasam district.

Inclement weather forced Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy to drop his plans to fly by a chopper to the flood-hit areas. Instead, he travelled by train to Chirala and from there to the interior areas by road while Chief Secretary J. Harinarayan reviewed the situation. Dr. Reddy will fly to Delhi on Friday to submit a memorandum to the Prime Minister on the damage.

Paddy damage

A preliminary assessment of the damage indicated that crops over an extent of 12 lakh acres were inundated, mostly paddy in Gudiwada, Tenali and Narsapur areas.

In all, 43,711 houses were destroyed, 12,025 of them fully. The damage to crops and properties is more extensive than in the floods on three earlier occasions.

Disaster Management Commissioner Preeti Sudan said Central team was likely to visit the areas shortly as the Chief Secretary had already addressed a letter to the Union Home Ministry.

She estimated the loss on all counts at Rs. 762 crores based on the initial reports and said the figure might go up.

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