Flood waters start receding in Andhra and Telangana

Hyderabad/Amaravati: Flood waters in several parts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh started receding as the states have not witnessed any intense rain spells on Tuesday even as the respective state governments stepped up relief works in the affected areas.

Torrential downpours in both the states left 33 people dead (Telangana -16 and Andhra Pradesh - 17 ), battered roads and inundated rail track and submerged crops on thousands of acres of land. People struggled for their daily needs and rescue and rehabilitation efforts were on, official sources said. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and his Telangana counterpart Revanth Reddy visited some inundated areas in their respective territories.

Reddy held a review meeting with ministers and officials at Mahabubabad district Collectorate after visiting flood-hit areas and asked officials across the state to prepare reports on encroachments on water bodies like lakes. He asked them to prepare reports on the losses caused by the current spell of heavy rains and flood and to take measures to check the spread of diseases after flood water receded. After visiting the flood-hit

areas in Khammam and Mahabubabad districts for two days, Reddy returned to the

state capital.

The Telangana government has already announced an ex-gratia of Rs five lakh to the kin of those who died in rain-related incidents. The state government has written to the Centre urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit and see the damage caused by the heavy rains, he said. The government has put the damage due to the downpour at over Rs 5,000 crore and sought immediate assistance of Rs 2,000 crore from the Centre, Reddy said. Police personnel of Nalgonda and Nagarkurnool districts, in coordination with the Fire Department, rescued 10 Chenchu tribe members, including children of Dindi mandal, who were stranded in the flood waters of the Dindi river, a release from Telangana Police said.