The death toll in the current spell of torrential rains battering the state in the past five days rose to at least 20 on Friday, even as dozens of town and hundreds of villages were inundated by rain waters.
A source in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), confirming the deaths, told Arab News that over 68,000 people had been so far evacuated from low-lying areas in several towns and villages to 135 relief camps set up in seven districts. The deaths were reported from different districts covering all the three regions of the state, he added.
The heavy rains also caused massive damage to standing crops spread over 435,000 hectares of land including 200,000 hectares of cotton across the state, the source said, adding that the focus may now shift from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema to Telangana region with the weatherman forecasting very heavy rains in the next 24 hours.
Official sources said over 350 houses were damaged in the rains in Srikakulam, Guntur, Krishna, Prakasam, Nalgonda, Mahabubnagar, Vizianagaram and the two Godavari districts. The unprecedented rains have badly affected normal life in all the three regions of the state — Telangana, coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema.
The sources said 117 irrigation tanks in the state were damaged, most of them in the north coastal Andhra district of Srikakulam where Vamsadhara River is in spate. Traffic movement on the Andhra-Odisha Highway has virtually come to a halt following flooding of roads. Besides, several trains have also been cancelled or diverted due to submergence of railway tracks in many places. The situation was similar in several districts of coastal Andhra and Telangana with road links cut off following flooding of roads.
Thousands of people in villages continue to be marooned as flood waters from swollen rivulets swirled around them persistently. The rains have inundated crops over 2.49 lakh hectares including cotton crops over 1.31 lakh hectares and paddy in 1.07 lakh hectares. The state has been experiencing torrential downpour under the impact of a low pressure area and a vigorous northeast monsoon.
Nine teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been pressed into service for rescue and relief operations. Four teams were sent to Srikakulam, three to Guntur and one each to Nalgonda and West Godavari district.
Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy reviewed the situation in Hyderabad and directed officials carry out rescue and relief operations effectively.
With the met office warning of heavy rains over the next two days, district collectors all over the state have been asked to be on high alert and evacuate more people from low-lying areas.
Heavy rains in Andhra Pradesh takes death toll to 20
Heavy rains in Andhra Pradesh takes death toll to 20
Cambodia shuts Thailand border crossings over deadly fighting
- Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said Trump “didn’t mention whether we should make a ceasefire” during their Friday phone call
- Across the border, a Cambodian evacuee said she was “sad” the fighting hadn’t stopped despite Trump’s intervention
BANGKOK: Cambodia shut its border crossings with Thailand on Saturday, after Bangkok denied US President Donald Trump’s claim that a truce had been agreed to end days of deadly fighting.
Violence between the Southeast Asian neighbors, which stems from a long-running dispute over the colonial-era demarcation of their 800-kilometer (500-mile) border, has displaced around half a million people on both sides.
At least 25 people have died this week, including four Thai soldiers the defense ministry said were killed in the border area on Saturday.
The latest fatalities were followed by Phnom Penh announcing it would immediately “suspend all entry and exit movements at all Cambodia-Thailand border crossings,” the interior ministry said.
Each side blamed the other for reigniting the conflict, before Trump said a truce had been agreed.
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said Trump “didn’t mention whether we should make a ceasefire” during their Friday phone call.
The two leaders “didn’t discuss” the issue, Anutin told journalists on Saturday.
Trump had hailed his “very good conversation” with Anutin and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet on Friday.
“They have agreed to CEASE all shooting effective this evening, and go back to the original Peace Accord” agreed in July, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The United States, China and Malaysia, as chair of the regional bloc ASEAN, brokered a ceasefire in July after an initial five-day spate of violence.
In October, Trump backed a follow-on joint declaration between Thailand and Cambodia, touting new trade deals after they agreed to prolong their truce.
But Thailand suspended the agreement the following month after Thai soldiers were wounded by land mines at the border.
In Thailand, evacuee Kanyapat Saopria said she doesn’t “trust Cambodia anymore.”
“The last round of peace efforts didn’t work out... I don’t know if this one will either,” the 39-year-old told AFP.
Across the border, a Cambodian evacuee said she was “sad” the fighting hadn’t stopped despite Trump’s intervention.
“I am not happy with brutal acts,” said Vy Rina, 43.
- Trading blame over civilians -
Bangkok and Phnom Penh have traded accusations of attacks against civilians, with the Thai army reporting six wounded on Saturday by Cambodian rockets.
Cambodia’s information minister, Neth Pheaktra, meanwhile said Thai forces had “expanded their attacks to include civilian infrastructure and Cambodian civilians.”
A Thai navy spokesman said the air force “successfully destroyed” two Cambodian bridges used to transport weapons to the conflict zone.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Saturday urged both sides to “cease all forms of hostilities and refrain from any further military actions.”
Thailand has reported 14 soldiers killed and seven civilian deaths, while Cambodia said four civilians were killed earlier this week.
At a camp in Thailand’s Buriram, AFP journalists saw displaced residents calling relatives near the border who reported that fighting was ongoing.
Thailand’s prime minister has vowed to “continue to perform military actions until we feel no more harm and threats to our land and people.”
After the call with Trump, Anutin said “the one who violated the agreement needs to fix (the situation).”
Cambodia’s Hun Manet, meanwhile, said his country “has always been adhering to peaceful means for dispute resolutions.”
