EAST GODAVARI. India. Nov 10: Most Indians today celebrated Diwall, the joyous Hindu festival of lights, but for villagers in the cyclone-devastated Godavari belts it remained a time of darkness and mourning. reports Reuter.

Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda flew over the flooded paddy fields and coconut groves during the day to assess damage to the region, known as the rice bowl of southeastern Andhra Pradesh state.

Officials fear more than 1.000 people died in the winds, rain and tidal waves that lashed the Pradesh coastline for five hours on Wednesday night.

flow can we think of cele beating DiwaH.' Purasala Siva, a 27-year-old man tn (he tiny

village of Annatavaram. told-Reuter.

Four people died in Annatavaram. but the number of dead in many of the 800 battered villages in the area was still unknown.

Makeshift camps were sheltering thousands of families whose houses were destroyed or liadly damaged by the storm.

Relief workers were struggling to reach outlying fishing villages, marooned by flood waters. while aerial surveys showed some conununities were completely submerged

A sea search was on for about 1.000 fishermen who sailed just before the cyclone struck. Officials said the bodies of 50 men had washed ashore at the mouth of the Godavari.