Respite from rains on Sunday improved the situation in flood-hit north Karnataka but surging waters from an overflowing Krishna river threatened to inundate coastal districts of Krishna and Guntur in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, senior officials said.

"The ground situation in the 10 worst-affected districts is improving as we had a break from torrential rains that battered the northern region for three-four days," Karnataka disaster management authority member K.K. Pradeep told news agency.

Though rescue and relief operations are on in the affected districts of Karnataka, flood waters and severe damage to roads and state highways are hampering movement of food and shelter material to the marooned villages and towns.

"The death toll remains at 170 as earlier in the day. But a total of 4,595 cattle head, including cows, bullocks, goats and sheep, have perished in flash floods and rain havoc," state disaster management authority secretary H.V. Parashwanath said.

According to reports from the affected districts, a total of 204,268 houses have collapsed across the region. The number of villages still reeling under the rain havoc has gone up to 1,467.

"We have set up 1,211 relief camps in 12 districts, including Davangere in central part of the state to provide shelter to 356,769 people. Besides gruel and food packets, we are distributing blankets and clothes to the homeless people," Parashwanath said.

Inordinate delay in reaching relief materials - including food and drinking water - to several villages forced the affected people to turn violent and torch six government vehicles at Talamari, about 20 km from Raichur in north Karnataka.

In Andhra Pradesh, rumours about the Tungabhadra river dam at Hospet in Karnataka bursting caused panic in Mantralaya, forcing people to flee the temple town.

"The police and officials had tough time in spiking the rumours and restoring order in the town, where flood waters started receding," a police official told IANS on phone.

Though the deaths in the three districts of Mahaboobnagar, Kurnool and Nalgonda went up to 33 from Saturday's 26, the flood situation remained grim as three towns and about 200 villages in the worst-hit districts remained under water.

Dinesh Kumar, commissioner (disaster management), said 15 people were killed in Kurnool district while 13 died in Mahbubnagar. The remaining deaths were reported from Nalgonda, Guntur and Krishna districts.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K. Rosaiah undertook an aerial survey of the affected districts and was monitoring the situation in Vijayawada and Guntur where thousands have been evacuated to safer places fearing submersion from the gushing Krishna waters.

"The administration has been put on high alert and people living in low-laying areas have been asked to shift to safer places, as heavy discharge of waters from Nagarjunasagar dam and Prakasam barrage are likely to submerge several villages in the next 12-24 hours," a senior official said in Hyderabad.

Most parts of Nandyal town in Kurnool district remained inundated due to the overflowing Kondu river.

The floods triggered by heavy rains under the influence of a deep depression in the Bay of Bengal inundated 400 villages and affected over 1.8 million people in five districts, rendering 400,000 people homeless and damaging thousands of houses. The floods also destroyed standing crops, civic infrastructure, electricity and telecom facilities and paralysed road and rail transport.

The water level at the Srisailam dam continued to be 10 feet above its capacity of 885 feet.

The state government has pressed eight Mi helicopters and six Chetak choppers of the Indian Air Force (IAF) in rescue and relief operations.

"About 22 tonnes of relief material consisting of foodgrain, blankets and medicines have been rushed to the affected areas so far," the senior government official added.

PM, Sonia to visit flood-hit Andhra, Karnataka

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Home Minister P. Chidambaram will visit flood-hit Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka Monday and Tuesday to assess the havoc wreaked by heavy rains there and meet the affected people.

"Sonia Gandhi will undertake an aerial survey of the worst-affected districts of Kurnool and Mahboobnagar in Andhra Pradesh for a spot assessment of the death and destruction caused by heavy rains and flood waters," a party spokesperson told IANS Sunday.

She will also visit Bellary, one of the 10 worst flood-hit districts in north Karnataka, to assess the damage and meet the affected people. Chidambaram will accompany her during the trip to both states.

Gandhi had contested the Lok Sabha election from the Bellary constituency in 1999 but vacated the seat to retain the Rae Bareli seat from Uttar Pradesh.

"Sonia Gandhi will land on Jindal airstrip at Tornagallu (about 30 km from Bellary) Monday morning. State officials and party leaders will brief her on the situation in the flood-hit district," Congress legislative council member K.C. Kondaiah said.

Manmohan Singh is scheduled to visit both the states Tuesday for a first-hand account of the damage in the flood-hit districts.

Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa appealed to Manmohan Singh to declare the worst floods in the state since 1972 as a 'national calamity' and release Rs.10,000 crore from the National Calamity Contingency Fund (NNC) to rehabilitate the affected people.

Heavy rains due to depression in the Bay of Bengal and low pressure from the Arabian Sea from Sep 29 to Oct 2 have caused flash floods in north Karnataka and the Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh, leaving about 200 people dead and a million homeless.

Discharge of waters from three dams across the major rivers Krishna and Tungabhadra in Karnataka inundated several villages and towns across the region in the neighbouring states.

"The exceptionally heavy rains due to cyclonic conditions caused extensive loss and damage in 12 districts, affecting about 17.8 million people. Agricultural crops in these districts are completely destroyed. Road network and power installation are also badly damaged," Yeddyurappa told the prime minister in a letter.

The state government has estimated the loss of crops and damage to public/private property at about Rs.20,000 crore.

"Relief and reconstruction operations need to be taken up on a massive scale considering the magnitude of the tragedy," the letter mentioned.

In a related development, the chief minister cancelled the leave of top officials in the affected districts for speed implementation of rehab measures and in restoring normalcy.

"I have also directed the ministers in-charge of the respective districts to stay put and supervise the relief measures," Yeddyurappa told reporters late Sunday.

The chief minister, who undertook aerial survey of the affected districts returned to Bangalore as he could not proceed to Koppal in north Karnataka due to bad weather.

An all-party meeting, scheduled for Monday to discuss the flood situation, was postponed after opposition leaders told the state government that they would not be able to reach Bangalore due to damage to roads and cancellation of trains from the affected areas.