People in all the three regions of the state will have to grin and bear for another 48 hours as torrential rains are likely to continue to play havoc with their lives even as the toll rose to 32 on Saturday.
Already, normal life has been paralysed in coastal and Telangana region and crops in lakhs of acres had been damaged. The rains have affected over 3,200 villages in 16 districts. The three regions received rains for the fourth day on Saturday. Nalgonda, Khammam, Warangal, Krishna, East Godavari, Visakhapatam received more than 50 mm of rainfall. Narketpally tops mandals in the state with 309 mm rainfall.
The Met department’s prediction is that though the low pressure area which is triggering rains is weakening and is moving North East East, there would still be rains for the next 48 hours. The department said there would be moderate to heavy rains in coastal Andhra and heavy to very heavy rains in Telangana region.
As the fury of Peddavaugu in Nalgonda district has come down a little, authorities restore particularly the movement of vehicular traffic on the national highway between Hyderabad and Vijayawada at Kattangur. Till this evening, traffic to Vijayawada was diverted via Warangal and Khammam.
The rivers and rivulets several districts continue to be in spate. There is a deluge of water into the Krishna upstream of Prakasam Barrage in Vijayawada on account of receipt of flood waters from streams, forcing authorities to release huge volumes of water downstream. In Khammam district, recent rains have increased the woes of the farmers as they had suffered a crop loss in 46,000 acres. Authorities of Kothagudem Thermal Power Station (KTPS) stopped two units of 120 MW capacity each due to rains. The heavy rains also hit the coal production in opencast mines in Kothagudem, Manugur and Yellandu in the district.
V Rama Krishna, farmer of Pandurangapuram village in Palvoncha mandal says:” I have raised maize in five acres, investing `50,000. But I have lost everything now.”
The rains have made life miserable in Vijayawada and Hyderabad where low lying areas are still water logged. In smaller towns like Warangal, Rajahmundry water has entered habitations and is yet to recede which has resulted in people having a tough time.
It was a double whammy for Srikakulam district since not very long ago, Phailin, a severe cyclonic storm had bettered the village. At a time when the farmers were recovering fro the effect of the cyclone, the torrential rains had caught them unawares. The three rivers, Bahudha, Mahendra Tanaya and Vamsadhara are in spate while in Visakhaptnam, Meghadrigedda, considered sorrow of Visakhapatnam Airport, is full to its brim.