Cyclone Mandous brings rains to south Andhra Pradesh

TIRUPATI: Parts of Nellore, Tirupati and Prakasam districts have started experiencing rains under the influence of cyclonic storm Mandous, which is expected to cross the coast between north Tamil Nadu and south coastal Andhra Pradesh during Friday night.

District administrations of Prakasam, Nellore and Tirupati as well as Annamaiah, Chittoor and Kadapa have been put on alert, as the cyclonic storm is expected to make a landfall on south coastal AP.

Coastal parts of Prakasam, Nellore and Tirupati districts have been witnessing light to moderate rains from Thursday night itself, which turned into heavy rainfall commencing Friday night.

As per official reports, Kota mandal in Tirupati district recorded a heavy rainfall of 103.2 mm from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday. The district received 53.8 mm average rainfall during the same period. Gudur division received 72.6 mm rainfall, while Sullurpet, Srikalahasti and Tirupati divisions recorded 65.6 mm, 42.8 mm and 34.9 mm rainfall respectively.

Muthukur mandal in Nellore district received the highest rainfall of 9.7 cm in the state by 6 p.m. High velocity winds have uprooted electric poles at a few places in Nellore and Tirupati districts. Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (SPDCL) has established a control room at its head office in Tirupati to monitor the situation. Special teams have been deployed for restoring power supply in cyclone-affected areas.

Flights cancelled

Airline services have been affected due to unfavourable weather conditions on Friday. SpiceJet flights from Pune to Tirupati and Tirupati to Pune have been cancelled. Indigo aircraft from Visakhapatnam to Tirupati returned to Visakhapatnam without landing. Likewise, SpiceJet and Indigo flights due to arrive in Tirupati from Hyderabad too returned to Hyderabad without landing.

Owing to the rains, Annamaiah, Kadapa, Chittoor, Tirupati and Nellore district administrations asked kids of all schools to return home in the afternoon as a precautionary measure.

Total of five NDRF and four SDRF teams have been deployed in coastal districts.

Agriculture minister Kakani Govardhan Reddy reviewed the situation in Nellore district along with collector K.V.N. Chakradhar Babu. The minister said the government has deployed special officers in all vulnerable mandals and set up round-the-clock control rooms in all district headquarters. People from low-lying areas are being shifted to safer places.

Tirupati district collector K. Venkataramana Reddy asked the entire official machinery to be ready as rains are expected to continue till Sunday. Prakasam collector A.S. Dinesh Kumar announced establishment of a special control room with telephone numbers 1077 and 08592-241400.