At least 51 people were killed as heavy monsoon rains triggered flash floods in India's southern states causing extensive damage and disrupting rail and road traffic, officials and media reports said Saturday. Forty-five people were killed in Andhra Pradesh and four deaths were reported from Kerala since Friday evening. The fatalities were mainly due to houses and trees collapsing, landslides and drownings, dpa reported. In a related incident, two crew members were killed when a cargo ship sank in the Arabian Sea during stormy weather near the coast of Karnataka state which has also been pummelled by heavy rains, the CNN-IBN network reported. Andhra Pradesh officials said that 45 people were killed in 10 districts in the state and eight fishermen were missing in a coastal district. "The western Kurnool district was the worst-affected with 21 people losing lives due to the thundershowers," a state government spokesman said requesting anonymity. "Several villages were cut off and communications disrupted in that district," he said. The official added that other deaths were reported from the Guntur, Prakasam, Kadapa, Karimnagar, Srikakulam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Hyderabad and Mahbubnagar districts. The flood situation was grim in Kurnool and several coastal parts of the state as incessant rains continued. Hundreds of trucks and buses were stranded on water-logged highways. Train services also came to standstill in Kurnool and Guntur districts as rail tracks were inundated at several points. The torrential rains also damaged acres of standing crops and vegetables in many districts of the state. More than 200,000 people living in low-lying areas were evacuated to safer places and the Army and Navy were placed on alert to deal with emergencies. There is no respite in sight as the Indian meteorological department has predicted that the inclement weather and heavy rains will continue in the region for the next few days. The monsoon season in India usually lasts from June until September and exacts a heavy toll, both in terms of human lives and destruction of agricultural crops and property.
