Hyderabad, Oct 4th: UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi will make an aerial survey of flood-hit Kurnool and Mahboobnagar districts where flood waters started receding providing much-needed access for relief and rescue operations on today. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah, returning after an aerial survey of flood-affected areas, told reporters that the situation would improve with further reduction in inflow into Srisailam reservoir to 9.31 lakh cusecs.

Though the government maintained that the death toll was 38 and unofficial sources said the toll could be more than double as more areas become accessible. The worst-affected Mahbubnagar accounted for a maximum death of 17 followed by Kurnool 15, Krishna three, Nalgonda two and Guntur one, an official release said. The authorities in Karnataka impounded over one lakh cusecs of water in Naryanpur and another 50,000 cusecs in Thungabadra following requests from irrigation authorities in Andhra Pradesh to tackle the unprecedented floods.

A Vijayawada report quoting Irrigation Department sources said the inflow from Nagarjunasagar rose to 8.83 lakh cusecs. Andhra Pradesh Animal Husbandary Minister P Parthasarathy supervising the flood situation said the barrage was designed to handle an inflow of 11.5 lakh cusecs.