India’s Disaster Management Division (DMD) reports that at least 24 people have lost their lives after floods in the state of Andhra Pradesh that began last week.
DMD said that, as of 21 November, 24 people had lost their lives and 17 were missing. Flooding affected 36,279 people and 1,366 villages across the districts of Tirupati, Chittoor, Kadapa, Anantapur and Nellore. Teams from state police, India’s Navy using helicopters and National and State Disaster Response Forces have rescued hundreds of flood victims. Over 2,000 houses have ben damaged and 31,827 people displaced and moved to 13 relief shelters.
Some of the worst of the flooding was a result of the failure of the earthen dam of the Annamayya project on the Cheyyeru river near Badanagadda village in Kadapa District. DMD said that following huge rainfall from 18 November 2021, heavy inflows caused severe damage to the dam, washing parts of it away on 19 November. At least 15 people died in the flooding downstream, with many more missing.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Sri YS Jagan conducted an aerial survey of the flood affected areas on 20 November 2021.
