The Hindu : Front Page : Water recedes from flood-hit areas

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Tuesday, Aug 12, 2008
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Water recedes from flood-hit areas

Special Correspondent

Families sheltered in relief camps leave for their homes in 15 districts

Flood toll reaches 85 with fresh casualties reported from different places
Chief Minister goes on an aerial survey of the flood-ravaged areas

— PHOTO: G. N. Rao

Reality check: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and Minister for Health and Family Welfare Sambhani Chandrasekhar taking stock of the flood situation near Munneru river at Khammam on Monday.

HYDERABAD: Flood-affected areas in 15 districts began to limp back to normalcy on Monday with water receding from the inundated localities prompting the families sheltered in relief camps to leave for their homes.

Rivers and other water bodies which were in spate, were on a downward trend except in West Godavari and Krishna where Kolleru lake rose posing danger to numerous “lanka” villages which are already cut off.

Drains of Thammileru, Ramileru, Upputeru and Yerrakalva, all in West Godavari and Budameru in Krishna, sent huge quantities of water into the lake increasing its water level. Road links to places skirting Kolleru like Gudiwada and Kaikalur were snapped.

Meanwhile, the flood toll reached 85 with fresh casualties reported from different places, but the government scaled it down to 62 going by criteria like establishing floods/rain as the cause of death and identification of the body through a panchnama. Guntur accounted for a maximum of 16 deaths.

Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy went on an aerial survey of the flood-ravaged areas in Krishna, Guntur, West Godavari and Khammam districts after which he announced in Vijayawada that crops over an extent of 3.71 lakh hectares were damaged in the floods. He met the affected families in Guntur and distributed cheques worth Rs. 2 lakh to the kin of the persons who died when the lorry in which they were travelling was washed away in Maddur drain.

Bridges sanctioned

He sanctioned six high-level bridges on drains and rivulets on Guntur-Amaravathi and Amaravathi-Mangalagiri road.

Revenue principal secretary K. Ratna Prabha who is in-charge Disaster Management Commissioner said the situation was fast improving and nearly 30 of the 175 relief camps opened in the affected districts were closed. The sheltered people were given 20 kg rice each, five litres of kerosene and cash of Rs. 2,000 towards purchase of clothes and utensils before they left.

She said vast areas of paddy came under water in Krishna, Guntur, East and West Godavari but hoped that the crop would survive as tips of the plants remained above water in most cases. Revenue/agriculture officials commenced enumeration to assess the damage suffered by other crops such as cotton and soybean.

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