Andhra floods: Death toll rises to 32; Central team to visit affected places today

Amaravati: The death toll in the unprecedented torrential downpours and floods in Andhra Pradesh rose to 32 and the number of evacuees in relief camps increased to 45,369, officials said on Wednesday.

NTR district, which houses Vijayawada, the most affected, accounted for 24 deaths; Guntur (seven) and Palnadu (one), said an official release.

An inter-ministerial team from the Central government will visit the flood-ravaged districts of Krishna, NTR and Guntur on Thursday and will interact with the victims.

"The Central team will include National Disaster Management Authority adviser KP Singh, Central Water Commission director Siddarth Mitra', said a release.

Meanwhile, a new weather system is developing over the Bay of Bengal sea.

"A fresh low pressure area is likely to form over west-central and adjoining northwest Bay of Bengal around September 5," said the release.

According to the India Meteorological Department, light to moderate rainfall is very likely at many places of north coastal Andhra Pradesh from September 4 to 8, and also over South Coastal Andhra Pradesh (SCAP) from Wednesday to Friday.

On Thursday, it predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall at one or two places in Eluru and Alluri Sitarama Raju district, and heavy rainfall at one or two places in East Godavari, Anakapalli, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Parvatipuram Manyam districts.

On Wednesday, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu held a meeting with bankers and insurance company representatives to request them to settle insurance claims on damaged vehicles and others in 10 days, and also resolve them in a fortnight.

Likewise, he requested the banks to reschedule flood victims' loans as many of them lost everything and are on the cusp of restarting their lives.

"I have convened this meeting with the intention to instill a sense of assurance to people by the government, banks and insurance companies," said Naidu in a release.

Further, he said that the southern state will consult with the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to extend maximum help.

The CM requested bankers not to put pressure on flood victims' EMIs over appliance purchases and others, especially at a time when thousands of homes and vehicles were submerged.

Naidu visited the flood-affected areas on Wednesday as well.

Several places in Vijayawada such as Ajit Singh Nagar, Devi Nagar and others continue to be waterlogged. Budameru, the rivulet which wreaked havoc on the city continues to gush with floodwaters.

On Wednesday afternoon, several flood-affected people were seen carrying water bottles and food packets along the railway tracks in and around Vijayawada, even as some tracks were inundated.

The length of roads damaged due to the floods stretched to 3,973 km by 8 pm on Wednesday, while crops were damaged in 1.7 lakh hectares of agricultural fields and 18,631 horticultural fields.

Nearly 2.35 lakh farmers suffered losses across the state.

Flood waters discharged from Prakasam Barrage amounted to 3.16 lakh cusecs by 6 pm on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan donated Rs 5 crore for flood relief. Out of this amount, 400 panchayats will receive Rs 1 lakh each for carrying out flood relief.

"I will ensure that these funds directly go into the accounts of those panchayats, which could be used for recovering from the floods," said Kalyan in an official release.

Besides the Deputy CM, several other individuals and entities donated funds, including a bunch of government officers' associations coming forward to donate one day's salary.

CM Naidu has already appealed to the public to come forward and donate to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund.