AMRAVATI (ANDHRA PRADESH), Aug 31: Eight persons have been killed in rain-related incidents in Andhra Pradesh today including five in Vijayawada due to landslides, officials said.
Vijayawada Municipal Commissioner HM Dhyanachandra said five persons died due to landslides at Mogalrajapuram.
“Here, it is five (deaths due to landslide). There may be more also,” Dhyanachandra told PTI and said debris clearance would be resumed on Sunday morning.
According to the Municipal Commissioner, landslides occurred at one single point in Mogalrajapuram with large boulders falling on two houses due to heavy rain.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of the landslide victims, said an official statement.
The CM directed officials to shift people from places prone to landslides as heavy rainfall has been forecast for the next two to three days.
At Pedakakani village in Guntur district, a teacher and two students returning home in a hatchback car died after the vehicle was washed away while crossing an overflowing stream.
“The incident happened around 12.30 pm. Following the suspension of classes due to rain, the teacher picked up two students along with him to return to a village about 3 km from the school and the hatchback was washed away while crossing a stream,” Guntur district superintendent of police S Satish told PTI.
Though the stream was not very big, Satish observed that the car still got washed away as it was a light hatchback. Police managed to trace all the three bodies, he said.
Incessant rains lashed several places in Andhra Pradesh including Vijayawada in the last 24 hours, officials said.
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.
Earlier, Dhyanachandra 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, he 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 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.
Roads are inundated and waterlogged in many towns across the state due to heavy rain, throwing normal life out of gear.
Further, the Met Department said the depression over west-central and adjoining northwest Bay of Bengal off north Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha coasts moved northwestwards to lay near 18.1 degrees north latitude and 84.1 degrees east longitude by 2:30 pm on Saturday.
“It is likely to move northwestwards and cross north Andhra Pradesh and adjoining south Odisha coasts between Visakhapatnam and Gopalpur, close to Kalingapatnam late Saturday night,” said the Met Department in a press release.
The Chief Minister is closely monitoring the situation with regular teleconferences with officials 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, 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 after informing people in the downstream areas.
Four NDRF and six SDRF teams are on standby to attend to rain-related emergencies while the Vijayawada Division of the South Central Railway (SCR) Zone diverted and cancelled several trains, including setting up helplines in a bunch of key railway stations. (PTI)
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