KADAPA/ANANTAPUR/KURNOOL: Heavy rains have been lashing Rayalaseema since the night of Saturday, July 17, 2021, inundating several localities in urban and rural areas. Several rivulets are overflowing cutting off road connectivity to a number of villages. One person was washed away in a stream in Vallur mandal of Kadapa. The victim, Veerasetty Sudhakar, 33, resident of Diguva Palli village was returning home from Kadapa when he accidentally fell into the stream.
More than 50 people were stranded at Yeddula Konda on the banks of Papagni river in Vempalle mandal when the mud road leading to Venkateswara temple on the hillock from the other side of the river was washed away. Kondaiah from Podalakur mandal in Nellore district visited Yeddula Konda on Saturday night along with his family members and relatives to fulfil the vow of offering his son’s hair at Venkateswara temple.
The bus, in which they came, left after dropping them at the place. On Sunday morning, the mud road leading to the temple was washed away following flash floods in the Papagni river due to heavy rain. Having learnt that a group of pilgrims were stranded on the hillock, temple chairman Jayachandra Reddy with the help of Allireddipalle former PACS president Chandrasekhar Reddy safely shifted Kondaiah and his family members in tractors to Vempalle through Nandimandalam.
Heavy rain inundated several low-lying colonies in Kadapa and other places in the district. Kadiri in Anantapur district received the highest rainfall of 21.54 cm till Sunday morning. Several low-lying areas in Kadiri and neighbouring mandals were flooded. Heavy rain also lashed Nandyal in Kurnool district. With increasing flood discharge levels from the Tungabhadra dam in Karnataka and from Jurala in Telangana, a high alert was sounded in low-lying areas.