Incessant rains continue to pound several parts of Andhra; one dies in landslides in Vijayawada

The city continued to receive rain on Saturday also.The Municipal Commissioner said multiple teams from the civic body were working towards diverting water from inundated roads back into canals using pumps.He further said 22 places in the city were affected, where the civic body teams have been working since 4 am to divert the water and observed that rain water has also entered into houses in a couple of wards prone to flooding.Incessant rainfall was affecting relief operations, he added.Meanwhile, Dhyanachandra said all the community halls in the city were opened to accommodate the affected people.

Incessant downpour lashed several places in Andhra Pradesh including Vijayawada in the last 24 hours, officials said. Vijayawada Municipal Commissioner HM Dhyanachandra said one person died due to landslides in the Gunadala hillock area in Vijayawada.

''Landslides occurred in Gunadala hillock area over a house. One death has been confirmed and we are clearing the debris to check if any other body is inside,'' Dhyanachandra told PTI on Saturday.

In the 24 hours ending 8.30 am on Saturday, Vijayawada city received 18 cm rainfall. The city continued to receive rain on Saturday also.

The Municipal Commissioner said multiple teams from the civic body were working towards diverting water from inundated roads back into canals using pumps.

He further said 22 places in the city were affected, where the civic body teams have been working since 4 am to divert the water and observed that rain water has also entered into houses in a couple of wards prone to flooding.

Incessant rainfall was affecting relief operations, he added.

Meanwhile, Dhyanachandra said all the community halls in the city were opened to accommodate the affected people. Food and drinking water were arranged for them.

Besides Vijayawada, Machilipatnam also received 18 cm rainfall, followed by Gudivada (17 cm), Kaikaluru (15 cm), Narasapuram (14 cm), Amaravati (13 cm), Mangalagiri (11 cm) and Nandigama and Bhimavaram (11 cm each).

Several other places across the state registered rainfall between 1 cm and 9 cm, according to a data shared by the Meteorological Department.

Several roads in Guntur town and also Kaza toll plaza between Vijayawada and Guntur were inundated with rain water.

Further, the Met Department said the depression over west-central and adjoining northwest Bay of Bengal off north Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha coasts was likely to move further west-northwestwards and cross north Andhra Pradesh and adjoining south Odisha coasts between Visakhapatnam and Gopalpur, close to Kalingapatnam around midnight Saturday.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu held a teleconference with officials to review the weather situation as three days of heavy rains have been forecast.

He directed the entire government machinery to be on alert and called for coordination between the Irrigation and Revenue Departments to monitor ponds.

Earlier, the Meteorological Department predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall on Saturday in several parts of Andhra Pradesh as the low-pressure system over Bay of Bengal intensified into a depression.

Further, the weather department said squally weather with wind speeds reaching up to 50 km per hour is prevailing over west central and adjoining northwest Bay of Bengal.

Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority (APSDMA) managing director R Kurmanadh said parts of coastal Andhra Pradesh will receive heavy rainfall today, accompanied by strong surface winds.

Isolated places in Srikakulam, Vijayanagaram, Parvatipuram Manyam, Alluri Sitarama Raju and Visakhapatnam districts are expected to receive heavy rain, he said.

He cautioned people to be wary of overflowing canals and streams, including uprooted power lines and low-lying areas.

Meanwhile, the Central Water Commission (CWC) warned that most of the rivers in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are expected to swell over the next two days.

As increased water flows are expected into several projects such as Nagarjunasagar, Srisailam, Thottapalli, Madduvalasa, Sriram Sagar and others, the CWC called for water discharge as per standard operating procedures (SoPs) after informing the downstream areas.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)