Hyderabad, Aug. 30 -- Crops in thousands of acres of land in Basar village of Mudhole mandal in Nirmal district have been submerged in flood waters due to the Godavari river swelling to dangerous proportions owing to heavy rains in its catchment areas for the past four days.

Priests ofthe Basar Saraswathi temple and villagers performed a 'Shanti Puja' to the local deity, hoping that the flow of the Godavari river will subside and bring relief to the people from the floods of this magnitude which has not occured in the last 40 years.

The flood waters entered not only the temple, but also residential areas and commercial establishments in Nirmal district's Basar, submerging them.

As the flood water flows from three directions, the devote...