Monsoon

We missed rains in the first two months of the monsoon both in Andra Pradesh and in Maharashtra, resulting in several hours of power cuts each day and problems with accessing water. Before I traveled to Hyderabad the heavy rains arrived there. But the heavy monsoon resulted in tragedies as well.

"Hyderabad: A truck was washed away in a flash flood in the Buddhist town of Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday killing 10 people as the death toll from the incessant rains in the last three days mounted to 59. The state government put the toll at 30. As many as 12 people were missing in the incident at Amaravati when the driver took the vehicle into a stream unable to distinguish between the river and the road which was under 7 ft of water. Transport minister Kanna Lakshminarayana said 13 people swam to safety. The state continued to grapple with large-scale loss of human lives and destruction caused by the deluge. Fourteen people have died in Hyderabad alone. The other deaths occurred in Krishna district (16), West Godavari (5), East Godavari (3), Guntur (9), Nalgonda (4), Medak (3), Visakhapatnam (2) and Warangal (3). Most of the deaths were either due to house collapses or floods, officials said. Chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy said the government has opened 85 relief camps across the state for the displaced people. TNN "

By the time I arrived back at Pune, the situation here in Maharashtra became as bad as in Andra Pradesh.

"Pune: The trekking adventure of a man and his daughter turned tragic after they were feared drowned at the Vikas Valley canal at Khandala on Sunday evening. Rajendra Chingle (36) and his daughter Snehal (13), residents of Karvenagar, were part of a 22-member trekking expedition which had gone to Khandala on Sunday afternoon. As Snehal neared the canal, she slipped and fell in the water. Rajendra jumped in to save her, but both were swept away by the force of the canal water. Their bodies could not be traced till late on Sunday night. A case has been filed with the Lonavla police station. The only confirmed casualty of the day was in Bhiwandi, Mumbai, where a portion of a building came crashing down, killing a six-year-old girl and injuring nine others.

The mechanical workshop building of the Sinhgad Institute of Technology at Lonavla (left) caved in on Sunday morning after it was hit by a landslide (background). What is visible is only the top floor of the ground-plus-two storey structure."