VIJAYAWADA: The Met department predicted light to moderate rainfall across the three regions of the State on Thursday. Thunderstorms accompanied by lightning and gusty winds are likely to occur at one or two places in North and South Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema.
Moderate to heavy rains lashed several areas of the State on Wednesday, bringing the much-needed respite to people from the summer heat. The highest rainfall of 6.1 cm was recorded in Bollapalle mandal of Guntur district.
Not a single mandal out of the 670 mandals in the State reported heatwave conditions on Wednesday. Eight mandals are likely to experience heatwave conditions on Thursday. Trees were uprooted and agricultural crops were damaged due to gales. Nellore and Tirupati districts received heavy rainfall. Trees and electric poles were uprooted in parts of Nellore district due to strong winds. Horticulture crops such as mango, papaya, banana were severely affected. Two children were killed in separate incidents of lightning in the State.
Gandham Siva Sankar, 15, died due to lightning in Palempadu in DV Satram Mandal in Tirupati district on Wednesday afternoon. He was grazing animals in the fields. Several parts of Palnadu and Prakasam districts witnessed moderate rainfall.AP State Disaster Management officials instructed the farmers and people not to go into open fields and stay under trees, as thunderstorms are likely. Amaraia, 16, died due to a lightning strike in Kambhampadu village in Macherla when he was ploughing his land. Two cattle also died in the incident.
Due to gusty winds and rains, many SSC students faced trouble at various exam centres in Podili of Prakasam district. The power supply was interrupted and students suffered for nearly 30 minutes in taking their exams due to insufficient light in many centres of Podili town. With the sudden rainfall, the temperature came down from 40 degrees Celsius to 33 degree Celsius in Palnadu and 32 degree Celsius in Prakasam, giving relief to people from summer heat.
In Visakhapatnam, heavy rains lashed the city for a brief period in the morning. Barring uprooting of trees at a couple of places, there was no major disruption to normal life. Following heavy rain, low lying areas such as Convent junction and One Town were inundated.