VIJAYAWADA: The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast thunderstorms accompanied by gusty winds with a speed of 50-60 km per hour in the districts of coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema region for the next 24 hours. It also warned that light to moderate rains are likely to occur across the State in the next 24 hours.
According to the IMD, a trough at 1.5 km above mean sea level is passing from south Chhattisgarh to South Interior Karnataka across Telangana and north interior Karnataka and it is likely to be intensified. A low pressure area is likely to be developed over equatorial Indian Ocean and adjoining southwest Bay of Bengal to the southeast of Sri Lanka on April 25, which is likely to intensify into a depression in the subsequent 48 hours.
IMD official K Naga Ratna said, “There will be thunderstorm activity across the State for the next one or two days. Currently, the trough is active and Krishna, East Godavari, Prakasam, Guntur and Nellore districts will have high impact of thunderstorm activity. A low pressure area is likely to be formed in the Bay of Bengal on April 25. Mercury levels are likely to be dropped by a few notches in the evenings due to light showers and thunderstorms.”
Meanwhile, isolated rains occurred at many places over Coastal Andhra Pradesh on Monday. Marripadu of Nellore district received maximum rainfall of 61.5 mm, followed by Korisapadu of Prakasam district with 49.75 mm of rainfall. Apart from these places, many areas of Prakasam and Nellore districts and isolated places of Visakhapatnam, Krishna, Guntur districts and Kadapa, Anantapur and Kurnool of Rayalaseema region received light to moderate rains accompanied by gusty winds.
Meanwhile, the day temperatures were normal when compared to the previous days. Temperatures between 35-39 degree Celsius were recorded in many districts of Coastal AP and Rayalaseema.
Highest maximum temperature of 40 degree Celsius was recorded at Anantapur and Kurnool, followed by 38 degree Celsius at Tirupati, Nandyal, Jangamaheswarapuram.
The AP Disaster Management Authority is closely monitoring the thunderstorm and lightning strikes and sending warnings to the concerned district authorities and mandal-level officers. On Monday, APSDMA issued lightning strike alerts to 309 mandals.
4-yr-old dies in lightning strike
A four-year-old boy, Sushant Naik, hailing from Obulapuram Thanda of Giddalur mandal of Prakasam district, died on Monday evening after being struck by lightning strike. Three more persons of the same village were injured in lightning strike. They have been shifted to Giddalur hospital for treatment. Various parts of the districts received moderate to heavy rains accompanied by heavy winds and lightning on Monday afternoon.