India flood toll rising
The death toll from the worst flash floods and heavy rains in decades
in southern India rose to at least 172 people on Saturday, officials
said, as authorities stepped up rescue efforts.
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Indian villagers rescue their cattle as their houses are swept
away by flood waters in Oleru village of Guntur district some
400 km from Hyderabad on October 6, 2009. Aid workers used
helicopters and boats to try to reach survivors of massive
floods in southern India that have killed at least 280 people,
as days of heavy rain and flash floods in the states of
Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra forced close to 1.5
million people to take refuge in relief camps. AFP |
At least 145 people died in the state of Karnataka where army troops
and air force helicopters were rescuing marooned villagers and 26 were
killed in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh where dams were overflowing,
authorities said.
Army boats were also deployed in the rescue efforts.
One more person was killed in the popular southern seaside resort
state of Goa in heavy rains that resulted in the collapse of 250 houses,
police said.
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Indian flood victims receive food in Talmari village in Raichur
district some 700 km north of Bangalore on October 6, 2009. Aid
workers used helicopters and boats to try to reach survivors of
massive floods in southern India that have killed at least 280
people, as days of heavy rain and flash floods in the states of
Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra forced close to 1.5
million people to take refuge in relief camps. AFP |
Officials said the death toll had jumped from 76 to 172 people in 24
hours and warned that number of deaths could rise. "The toll may go up
as we try to reach those areas and villages that remain cut off", HV
Parashwanath, secretary of Karnataka's disaster monitoring agency, told
Agence France-Presse in Bangalore. "We are seeing some of the worst
flooding since 1972 in the northern part of the state", Parashwanath
said, referring to where the Krishna River burst its banks.
Four days of intense rain have submerged villages, destroyed crops
and disrupted transport and communication links in parts of the states.
Karnataka's chief minister BS Yeddyurappa said the northern part of the
state was 'reeling' from the heavy rainfall.
Authorities in both states were rushing to shift people living in
low-lying areas to school buildings and temples on higher ground.
"We are concentrating on relief operations and evacuation to a safer
place", Andhra Pradesh state revenue minister D Prasad Rao told
reporters in state capital Hyderabad.
AFP |
