Lightning kills two women, one injured at Ponnur
Vijayawada: Several districts in Andhra Pradesh would experience heavy rainfall in the next six days --from Thursday to October 28.
According to IMD, a well-marked low-pressure area over southwest Bay of Bengal off Tamil Nadu coast moved northwestwards and lay centered over the same region. “This is likely to move northwestwards across north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and south Andhra Pradesh coasts in the next 24 hours.”
Under its influence, heavy to very heavy rainfall occurred at a few places with isolated extremely heavy rainfall in parts of districts like Prakasam, Nellore, Tirupati, Annamayya and Kadapa, and parts of the Rayalaseema region on Wednesday.
Similarly, parts of Bapatla, Chittoor, Nandyal, Sri Sathya Sai and Anantapur also experienced heavy to very heavy rainfall.
Heavy rainfall was witnessed in districts like Kakinda, Konaseema, East Godavari, West Godavari, Eluru, NTR, Krishna, Guntur, Palnadu and Kurnool.
Two women died and one was injured when lightning struck them at Itikampadu village of Ponnur mandal in Guntur district. The mishap occurred when they were working in the agricultural fields around 12.10 pm on Wednesday. The deceased were V Mariamma, 45 and Shaik Mujishida, 45.
The injured woman Neelam Manikyam has been admitted to a hospital.
IMD forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall at one or two places in Nellore and Tirupati on October 23.
It also forecast heavy rainfall at one or two places in Prakasam, Nellore, Tirupati and Chittoor districts from October 24 to 27.
Heavy rainfall is likely to occur at one or two places in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapantam, Anakapalli, Bapatla, Prakasam, Tirupati, Chittoor, Annamayya and Kadapa on Oct 28.
Moreover, light to moderate rain is most likely in several parts of Andhra Pradesh from October 23 to 28.
IMD has advised fishermen not to venture into the sea up to October 26.
Squally wind with speed reaching 45kmph to 55kmph, gusting to 65kmph, is likely to prevail on Thursday. The intensity of the wind speed may come down to35kmph to 45kmph, gusting to 55kmph, from October 24 to 26.
Chief Secretary Vijayanand held a tele-conference with district collectors of Nellore, Prakasam, Bapatla, Tirupati, Annamayya and Kadapa districts. He put them on high alert, to meet any eventuality, as the low pressure area would develop as a cyclone in a matter of 12 hours.
He advised the district administrations to set up control rooms that work 24/7 in vulnerable districts and said equipment must be kept ready to restore power disruptions.
Home minister Vangalapudi Anitha reviewed the developments and issued directions for deployment of NDRF and SDRF teams in various districts. Orders have been issued to evacuate the people from buildings either in dilapidated conditions or that are under construction.
Roads minister BC Janardhan Reddy, currently on a tour of the UAE along with CM, held an online review meeting with the senior officials and directed them to keep tabs on flash floods to rivers, canals, streams and rivulets. People must be alerted and restoration works should be done without delay in case of damage to roads, culverts and structures of public transport, he stressed.
