HYDERABAD, Sept 20: A severe storm has ripped through southern India, killing at least 34 people and leaving 50,000 homeless, officials said on Tuesday. Hundreds of trees and electricity poles were uprooted after strong winds and heavy overnight rains triggered flooding in the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh state, inundating low-lying areas.

Most of the victims were either electrocuted or died in house collapses, officials said.

Eleven people died in the coastal West Godavari district while five others were electrocuted in Khamman district after waters from the overflowing Godavari, the state’s largest river, flooded housing colonies, district officials said.

The airport in the port city of Visakhapatnam, 525km sast of Hyderabad, was closed because the runway was partially flooded.

“All traffic, rail, road and air, has been suspended on the east coast for the next 24 hours in view of heavy rainfall predicted under the influence of the cyclone,” said Shashank Goel, a top state disaster management official.

Coast guard boats were searching for dozens of missing fishermen who did not return to shore on Monday.

Low-lying colonies in many small towns have been flooded, Goel said.

“Helicopters have been rushed to the districts to rescue people stranded on housetops and trees,” he added.

Officials said they were bracing for more rain in the region although the storm itself had substantially weakened.

Storms and cyclones formed in the Bay of Bengal lash India’s eastern states and Bangladesh around September and October months almost every year, killing hundreds of people and destroying cattle and crops. —Reuters