hindustantime.com - 27 October, 2013
Roads are flooded as heavy rains continue to lash Srikakulam and Nalgonda districts in Andhra Pradesh. (PTI photo)
Thirty-two people dead, 15,000 houses collapsed across 4,000 villages, 72,000 people evacuated and crops over 564,000 hectares destroyed – the floods in Andhra Pradesh are getting worse by the hour. And the deluge can only get worse, with more rains expected in the next 48 hours.
The situation is somewhat better in Odisha. But though flood waters are receding, six more persons died on Saturday, taking the toll to 16. And in neighbouring West Bengal, torrential rains flooded streets, uprooted trees and sent houses crashing that took two lives.
For now, the Andhra Pradesh government appears ill prepared to handle the rain fury, which has been continuing for the last five days. Though the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has been pressed into service and chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy has asked officials to take up rescue and relief measures on a war footing, the going is slow at best.
