Rains continue to wreak havoc across country, 18 killed

New Delhi, Aug 7 (UNI) Incessant rains continued to wreak havoc with as many as 18 people being killed during the last 24 hours in different parts of the country.

Fifteen people were killed during the past 24 hours as heavy rains lashed Karnataka districts, causing widespread damages to standing crops and properties in the areas coming under Western Ghats and coastal areas.

Reports reaching here said five people each had died at Shimoga and Haveri districts, two each at Davangere and Udupi districts and one at Dharwad.

Hundreds of houses in the twin-cities of Shimoga and Bhadravathi were inundated and 50 houses were either partially or fully collapsed.

National Highway 213, connecting Chitradurga to Mangalore and Udupi districts, had been cut off-for traffic as water had flooded the highway at Mandagadde and Tuduru.

One person was killed in rain-related incident in Srikakulam District of Andhra Pradesh as Nagavali and Vamsadhara rivers were in spate today following heavy rains in the catchment areas in neighbouring Orissa.

Under the influence of a deep depression, which crossed Orissa coast and weakened into a depression, isolated heavy rain is likely to occur over Khammam, Warangal, Nizamabad, Karimnagar and Adilabad districts of Telangana during the next 24 hours.

Three tribals, including two women, were feared drowned when a countryboat capsized midstream in the Putura river, a tributary to the Kolab, at Solapa village, about 18 km from Jeypore, Orissa.

In another incident, a boy was killed when the wall of a house collapsed at Bania village last night, police said.

One person drowned in Chandgad tehsil and three villages Rajapur, Rajapurwadi and Khidrapur in Shirol tehsil of Kolhapur district were marooned due to incessant rains for the past five days.

Torrential rains lashing Mumbai for the past 24 hours threw normal life out of gear and affected air, road and rail traffic.

Suburban rail services on the Harbour, Central and Western lines were running late due to water-logging of tracks and poor visibility. Road traffic was also disrupted due to poor visibility and water-logging. Several flights arriving and departing from Chhatrapti Shivaji Terminal were delayed due to poor visibility at the runway.

As many as 68 students and an employee of a residential school were trapped in an under-construction building marooned with flood water following incessant rains at Kartola village near Gariaband in Raipur district on teh Chhattisgarh-Orissa border.

Heavy rains continued to lash almost all districts of Chhattisgarh since yesterday, following a depression in the Bay of Bengal.

Normal life remained paralysed due to incessant rains for the past two days in Bastar division of the state and all major rivers and rivulets were in spate affecting road traffic and inundating many villages, official sources said today.

An alert was sounded across the tribal-dominated Bastar district, where the Indrawati river had crossed the danger mark this afternoon.

Heavy rains were likely in almost all the districts of Chhattisgarh in the next 24 hours, the weather office said.

Flash floods wreaked havoc in Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh last night, while light showers lashed the other mid and lower hills of the state during the past 24 hours.

The floods, triggered by heavy rains in the high altitude areas of the district, caused huge losses to private and public property, official sources told UNI here.

Moderate to heavy rain pounded many areas in Punjab turning Faridkot the wettest place in the north-west plains.

However, humid weather prevailed in most parts of Chandigarh and its adjoining areas even as Ludhiana and Patiala recorded trace rainfall.

The Met Office predicted light to moderate rain or thundershowers at few places in Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab during the next 24 hours.

The mercury soared further to 36.7 degrees Celsius, leading to hot humid conditions in the national capital.

The weather office recorded 3.7 mm rainfall till 1730 hrs even as the minimum settled to 26.4 degrees Celsius pushing the relative humidity to 92 per cent.

The Weather office has also forecast a further rise in the temperature over the next 24 hours.

The Jodhpur-Bikaner rail tracks have been blocked as heavy rains continue to lash Jaisalmer.

The weather department has warned of more heavy rains in Kota, Udaipur, Jodhpur and Ajmer divisions over the next 48 hours.

Meanwhile, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil today made an aerial survey of flood-ravaged Asom and directed the state government to ensure relief and rehabilitation, assuring of complete assistance from the Centre. As many as 24 people had died in the second wave of flood, which affected 26 of the total 27 districts of the state, displacing about 65 lakh people. More than eight lakh hectare of area had been affected.

UNI