Mumbai, Aug. 8: With the toll in flood-affected Maharashtra touching 97 today, the state has announced immediate relief measures and asked for a Rs 500-crore package from the Centre.

This is the second consecutive year that the state has asked for a flood relief package.

As a clearer picture of the damage inflicted by four days of incessant rain in 19 of the 34 districts of the state emerged today, the cabinet met to discuss measures to provide relief to an estimated 63,332 families evacuated from 104 tehsils and 2,172 villages.

Government officials said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will visit the flood-hit areas of Gujarat and Maharashtra on Thursday. Union home minister Shivraj Patil is also scheduled to visit the states.

Nashik, Jalgaon, Ahmednagar, Dhule, Nandurbar in the north, Chandrapur, Akola, Buldhana, and Washim in Vidarbha, and Nanded, Hingoli, and Parbhani in Marathwada were the worst affected areas of Maharashtra, chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said. He spoke to the Prime Minister over the phone yesterday.

Paramilitary forces were deployed in evacuation with the help of 48 mechanised boats, five navy ships and five helicopters, Deshmukh said, announcing up to Rs 5,000 cash relief for each of the displaced families. The government would also offer 10 kg each of rice and wheat and 10 litres of kerosene to them.

The situation turned worse after almost all dams in the state were full but water had to be discharged. Deshmukh said the waters of the swollen Tapi river, flowing from Gujarat, worsened the situation in Nandurbar after Gujarat released 8 lakh cusecs of water towards the Prakasha barrage in Nandurbar.

The discharge of 1.8 lakh cusecs of water from Ujani dam, 20,000 from Khadakvasla, 40,000 from Veer, and 1.13 lakh cusecs from Bundgarden dams had resulted in the increase of water levels in the Bheema, Mula, and Ghod rivers in Pune. Waters from the Jayakwadi dam and the overflowing Godavari and Purna rivers caused evacuation from nearly 150 villages.