Sunday, October 4, 2009

Monsoon wreaks havoc in South India, claims 132 lives

T
orrential rain that battered various parts of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra have claimed 132 lives so far in the past six days even as the state government intensified relief and rescue operations in 15 rain-hit districts. Meanwhile, massive rescue operations are on in the flood-hit states and national highways sealed as the heavy inflow is reported to have reached highest levels. In Andhra Pradesh, heavy inflow has reached highest level becoming a danger to power stations. 600 army personnel have been deployed in Andhra Pradesh with boats and other rescue equipment. Yelahanka Air Force station Air Commodre, V S Bharti said that the worst affected areas were along the Tungabadram area. Chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, K Rosaiah, also made an aerial survey of the affected areas and 3600 kg of relief material have been dropped on Saturday. Meanwhile in Karnataka, a team of 9 divers and medical assistant fully equipped with Gemini boats, rescue gear and first aid is at Gadag and operating in a place called Haliyal in Karnataka. Another two teams operating at Arga, Chendia and Todur have already rescued over 130 persons and moved them to higher grounds. Besides this, another team of an officer and 20 sailors have left for Kadwad about 12 Kms north of Karwar, to assist in rescue operations due to landslides and house collapse. On the other hand, floods crisis has also spread to parts of Maharashtra as well. Heavy rains in Sindhudurg district have caused water in the Mankuli river to rise to alarming levels. The rains have also triggered landslides in the Karul and Amboli ghats. Mumbai-Goa national highway has been closed down, as water is flowing over the Pulsan bridge into Sherale village.

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