People making their way through flood waters, covering a main highway at Karimnagar, some 150km north-east of Hyderabad, yesterday. (AFP)

Kolkata • Storms caused by a depression in the Bay of Bengal have killed more than 20 people in West Bangal and left hundreds of people homeless at the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, officials said yesterday.

More than 31 people have been killed since Monday night in Andhra Pradesh, most from drowning and house collapses, where heavy rains and strong winds caused flash floods.

At least 20 people were killed and over 300 injured in a severe cyclonic storm that lashed West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas and East Midnapore districts in the early hours of yesterday, as an alert was sounded in coastal districts with heavy rains forecast in the next 48 hours.

The storm, caused by the formation of a well-marked low pressure area over the north-west Bay and adjoining coastal north Orissa and gangetic West Bengal, left a trail of destruction in the two districts, razing thousands of dwellings, trees, power and telephones poles and damaging standing paddy.

The Sunderbans in South 24 Parganas district bore the brunt of the storm with 10 blocks seriously affected, prompting Sunderbans Development Minister Kanti Ganguly, to rush with a rescue and relief team yesterday morning.

State Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta and Relief Minister Murtaza Hussain told reporters that 12 deaths were reported from South 24 Parganas and one from East Midnapore and added that the toll might rise as reports from interior areas were yet to come in. To a question, they said the toll may rise, adding that over 13,000 dwellings collapsed in the storm.

The state government has sanctioned Rs3 crore for relief and rehabilitation in South 24 Parganas and Rs1.50 crore for East Midnapore district in consultation with Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the Finance Minister said.

The Finance Minister said that an alert was sounded in the coastal areas in view of the forecast of more rains in the next 48 hours.

He said a team of officials would be sent to the affected areas to assess the situation. The Regional Meteorological Centre said that under the influence of the low pressure formation, heavy to very heavy rains lashed Gangetic West Bengal and coastal Orissa since yesterday morning. It said that heavy rains were likely at a few places in Gangetic West Bengal, Orissa and Tripura in the next 48 hours.

Strong easterly winds with speeds of 55 kmph would sweep the coastal belt and the sea level would rise, it said. Fishermen were asked not to venture into the deep sea. The met centre said the squally weather was likely to persist and asked the Hooghly port to hoist local caution signal number 3.

Andhra inundated

Meanwhile, floods in Andhra Pradesh claimed 31 lives during the last two days as rains continued for the third consecutive day and hundreds of villages in north Telangana and coastal Andhra Pradesh remained inundated. According to an official, Karimnagar district, which bore the brunt of floods, accounted for 15 deaths. Seven people were killed in Guntur and five in Warangal district. The remaining deaths were reported from Khammam (2) and Adilabad (2).

With the incessant rains continuing under the impact of low-pressure area in Bay of Bengal and major rivers receiving heavy inflows from neighbouring Maharashtra and Karnataka, the coastal Andhra Pradesh is facing flood like situation.

The water level in both Godavari and Krishna rivers is rising due to heavy rains in upstream Maharashtra and Karnataka and also in the Telangana region of the state. Heavy rains in Orissa have triggered floods in rivers in Srikakulam district of north coastal Andhra Pradesh.

The water level in the Godavari river at temple town of Bhadrachalam in Khammam district crossed the second danger mark at 49.5 feet. The water level at Dwaleswaram barrage near Rajhamundry in the same river has also crossed the first danger mark.

More than 200 villages were inundated due to breaches in dozens of irrigation tanks in Karimnagar district while about 50 villages in East and West Godavari districts remained cut off due to floods in rivulets, canals and lakes.

The fertile Konaseema region along Godavari is facing second flood threat in less than two months.The floods last month had claimed 120 lives. The north and south coastal Andhra Pradesh and Khammam district were the worst hit by the August floods. Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy yesterday held a tele-conference with the collectors of affected districts and directed them to take all steps to provide relief to the victims. He also announced an ex-gratia of Rs1,50,000 each to the kin of those killed in the floods.

With the weathermen forecasting more rains in 24 hours and in view of the heavy inflows coming form upstream, the Chief Minister directed the district authorities to monitor the situation closely and evacuate people from low-lying areas.