The Andhra Pradesh government has alerted the district administration to meet any contingencies in view of heavy rains that lashed the state for the last two days, claiming six lives in the affected districts.

Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy on Sunday directed revenue, municipal, medical & health, panchayat raj and police officials to be more vigilant against possible damages in view of the incessant rains in the state.

A state level control room was also opened in the office of commissioner of Disaster Management with a helpline, which the people in distress could call to seek relief.

According to Hyderabad Meteorological Centre forecast, heavy to very heavy rain is likely to occur in the north coastal districts such as Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam [Images], East and West Godavari and Telangana districts such as Khammam, Warangal and Karimnagar during the next 48 hours.

Isolated heavy rain is likely to occur in the remaining districts in coastal Andhra and Telangana.

The Meteorological Centre said that due to the well-marked low pressure area that lay over the northwest Bay of Bengal off Orissa-Gangetic West Bengal coast, the associated upper air cyclonic circulation extended upto 9.6 km above sea level sloping southwestwards with height.

Under the impact of the low-pressure area, the southwest monsoon had been vigorous over coastal Andhra and active over Telangana and Rayalaseema over the last two days.

Reviewing the situation at a high level meeting with Chief Secretary Mohan Kanda, Disaster Management Commissioner Shashank Goel and other senior officials on Sunday, the chief minister directed them to take immediate measures to provide relief to the affected persons.

The chief minister wanted them to take up timely rescue and relief activities in all the affected districts. He asked the district collectors and the superintendents of police to deploy special teams to alert the people to be cautious in crossing the rivulets and streams when in spate and to ensure pumping out of water in all inundated areas besides evacuating the people to safer places wherever necessary.

Revenue Minister Dharmana Prasada Rao said that six persons died in the rain-related incidents. A 32-year-old man died in a wall collapse in Jangaon town in Warangal district.

Three persons died due to house collapses and a 19-year-old youth was washed away in Uravagu in Pathikonda area in Kurnool district. One more person was washed away in another incident.

The revenue minister pointed out that 26 minor irrigation and panchayat raj tanks were breached or damaged in Warangal, Kurnool and Adilabad districts. In all, 254 houses were damaged in Kurnool district. Several localities were inundated in Suryapet, Guntur, Ramagundam, Mancherial, Vijayawada and Adoni towns.

Services of R&B Department engineers had been requisitioned by the collectors for restoration of breaches to the roads and damages to the culverts on a war-footing for restoration of disrupted traffic.

Similarly, the panchayat raj engineers had been mobilised for restoration of breaches and damages to all minor irrigation tanks and to take all precautionary steps to avoid further damages.

Cautioning the officials on the possibility of outbreak of epidemics in the affected areas, the chief minister directed the health officials to take all-out measures and deploy special teams immediately.

Reviewing the situation in the state capital, Dr Reddy directed the municipal administration and police officials to jointly deploy their teams in all the affected areas and ensure relief measures. He asked the electricity authorities to deploy survey teams to repair and replace all the damaged installations and poles that would pose danger of causing electrocution.