State rain toll 111; condition worsens in AP, Karnataka

Another person was killed and two were injured in a wall collapse at Poorva-Lota village in Kalamba taluka of Osmanabad.

In Andhra Pradesh, the government is likely to seek Army assistance to step up relief and rescue operations as incessant rains have claimed 21 lives in the past twenty-four hours, taking the toll in the current spell of monsoon to 72.

A senior state relief and rehabilitation official said here that the government might seek helicopters from the Army in case the situation worsened.

Torrential rains due to deep depression in the Bay of Bengal, which now lay centred as a well marked low pressure over north Telangana and adjacent coast ofAndhra, continued to pound many parts of north Telangana and the coastal belt, the sources said. Several rivers and rivulets were overflowing, indundating villages in these areas.

Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, who returned from New Delhi last night, undertook an aerial survey of Prakasham and Kurnool district — which bore the maximum brunt of the rain fury, accounting for 17 of the total deaths so far.

With the steady inflow of waters into Nagarjunsagar dam during the past few days, people in Nalgonda, Guntur and Krishna district have been warned to move to safer places.

The power generation at Srisailam hydro-power station has come to a standstill with water gushing into all the seven units.

The authorities have also sounded a red alert in Krishna, Guntur and Nalgonda districts in view of rising water levels in the rivers.

In Karnataka, at least 38 persons were killed in drowning and house and wall collapses, as heavy rains pounded several parts of Karnataka in the past 48 hours, police saidtoday.

Giving details of rain-related incidents yesterday and today, they said at least six inmates, including a boy, were crushed to death in a house collapse at Raichur town. Another died in a wall collapse.

Seven women and a boy were drowned in a swollen stream at Halagur village in Bellary district and efforts were on to recover the bodies, police said.

In Bangalore rural district, two persons lost their lives when the wall of their house collapsed near Hebbagodi.

Police said Bijapur district was the worst hit, accounting for 16 deaths.