DHAKA: Seventeen people were killed and hundreds of villages and several towns were inundated as torrential rains lashed large parts of Andhra Pradesh for the fourth day on Friday.

Heavy rains under the impact of low pressure area and a vigorous northeast monsoon hit coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema and Telangana regions, damaging houses and crops over lakhs of acres and throwing normal life out of gear.

The swollen rivulets cut of roads link to hundreds of villages in coastal Andhra and parts of Telangana. Road and rail transport was affected due to flooding of roads and railway tracks, especially in Srikakulam district of north coastal Andhra.

According to officials of the disaster management department, the death toll in rains rose to 17 while two people were missing. Prakasam district accounted for five deaths, Guntur four and Hyderabad three, reports The Times of India.

Over 67,000 people were evacuated from low-lying areas and moved to 135 relief camps in seven districts.

Thousands of people were stranded in marooned villages without food and drinking water.

Nine teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were sent to affected districts for rescue and relief operations.

BDST: 1740 HRS, OCT 25, 2013
RoR/RIS