8 dead from heavy rains in Andhra Pradesh; teacher, students washed away in Guntur

Vijayawada: Eight persons died in rain-related incidents in Andhra Pradesh on Saturday. The toll includes five persons in Vijayawada who died in landslides and one teacher, two school students who were washed away in Guntur district.

In the last 24 hours, incessant rains lashed across several places in Andhra Pradesh including Vijayawada, resulting in 18 cm of rainfall in the city even as more rain continued to batter the residents.

Rs 5 lakhs aid announced for victim families

The landslide deaths occurred in the Mogalrajapuram area in Vijayawada when large boulders fell on the houses of the deceased due to heavy rain. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakhs each to the kin of the landslide victims.

“Landslides occurred at Mogalrajapuram in Vijayawada leading to the death of four persons. Naidu expressed sorrow over the deaths and has declared ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakhs each to the kin of the deceased persons,” said an official statement.

The CM directed officials to move people away from places prone to landslides as heavy rainfall has been forecast for the next two to three days.

Teacher and students washed away in Guntur

At Pedakakani village in the Guntur district, a teacher and two students returning home in a hatchback died after their car 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 to return with him to a village 3 km from the school. During their journey, the hatchback washed away while crossing a stream.

Though the stream was not very big, the light hatchback couldn’t handle the current and was washed. Guntur police managed to trace all three bodies.

Vijayawada Municipal Commissioner HM 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 have been affected. The civic body teams have been working since 4 am to divert water and said that rainwater has also entered houses in wards prone to flooding.

Incessant rainfall was affecting relief operations, the commissioner added.

Community halls asked to accommodate people

Meanwhile, Dhyanachandra said all community halls in the city have been opened to accommodate the affected people. Food and drinking water have been 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 including the Kaza toll plaza between Vijayawada and Guntur were inundated with rain water. Police have urged the public to avoid travelling unless absolutely necessary.

Roads were inundated in many towns across the State due to heavy rain, throwing normal life out of gear.

All civic departments kept on alert

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

The chief minister 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 the Bay of Bengal intensified into a depression.

Sudden strong winds expected

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 on Saturday, 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.

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.