Heavy rains claim 25 lives, livestock washed away, relief on

Hyderabad, Aug 9 (UNI) As many as 25 people were killed and hundreds of livestoks washed away in flood waters while several houses damaged as heavy rains lashed the Andhra Pradesh today.

The death toll in torrential rains and other rain related incidents rose to 25 today even as the state government alerted the respective district administrations and all departments to take up relief measures and prevent loss of lives on war footing.

According to official sources here, nine people were killed in Hyderabad, four in Krishna, three each in Medak and West Godavari and two each in Nalgonda, Guntur and Ranga Reddy districts.

A report from Vijayawada said four persons including three women and a two-month-old boy were killed in rain related incidents in Krishna district during the last 12 hours.

About 10 cm of rainfall was recorded in Vijayawada since last evening and many low lying area were inundated.

In East Godavari district, many low laying areas were inundated and paddy crops were damaged. The district administration has taken steps to mitigate the suffering of the people by deploying country boats wherever necessary and also kept ready essential commodities in all the fair price shops.

Meanwhile, meteorological department officials said low pressure area over North coastal Andhra Pradesh and adjoining West Central Bay of Bengal off Orissa coast still persisted.

Under its influence, rain or thundershowers were likely at many places over north coastal Andhra Pradesh and heavy to very heavy rain at a few other places during the next 24 hours.

Due to heavy rains, Srikakulam and Vizianagaram district collectorates opened control rooms and sounded an alert in villages situated along the river beds.

However, revenue officials said the flood situation was under control as water was receding in Vamasadhara and Nagavalli rivers.

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