Six die in Maharashtra, Army called out in Gujarat and AP

New Delhi, Aug 7 (UNI) Six people died in rain-related incidents in Maharashtra in the past 24 hours, taking the toll to 45, the death count rose to 94 in Andhra Pradesh where three lakh people were marooned in the Konaseema region and the Army has been called in Gujarat's Surat city to help in the flood rescue operation.

In Andhra Pradesh, Visakhapatnam accounted for 16 deaths, followed by Vizianagaram and Khammam (13 each), East Godavari (11), Nizamabad (8), Srikakulam and Karimnagar (6 each), Krishna and Warangal (5 each), Hyderabad (3), West Godavari, Guntur and Medak (two each), Adilabad and Nalgonda (one each).

Two minor girls and a middle-aged man died in separate incidents of wall collapse due to incessant rains in Maharashtra's Buldhana district.

In the state's Marathwada region, three more deaths were reported from the region last night even as rains continued for the third consecutive day.

In the state capital Mumbai, heavy torrential rains continued to lash parts of the island city and suburbs for the second consecutively disrupting vehicular and air traffic.

Reviewing the grim flood situation at a high-level meeting, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy directed his cabinet colleagues G Surya Rao and J Ramamohana Rao to oversee the rescue and rehabilitation operations and appointed three senior officers for coordinating with the district collectors of Khammam, East and West Godavari Districts as large tracts of land were inundated with flood water.

In Gujarat, state government officials said two platoons of the army has already reached Surat and three were on its way.

In Surat, a high alert has been declared in the city, district flood control room sources informed. Around seven lakh cusecs water was released into the Tapi river earlier in the day, and its impact can be experineced only by evening, the officials added.

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