E-Paper
After brief respite, heavy rains batter parts of Andhra, T’gana
According to a bulletin from India Meteorological Department (IMD), Amaravati, the well-marked low pressure moved slowly towards northwest on Tuesday and concentrated into a depression and lay centered over coastal Odisha
After a brief respite in the rain for the last three days, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana started witnessing heavy rain in the last 24 hours due to an intense low pressure over coastal areas of northwest Bay of Bengal adjacent to southern parts of Odisha, as per the information by India Meteorological Department.
According to a bulletin from India Meteorological Department (IMD), Amaravati, the well-marked low pressure moved slowly towards northwest on Tuesday and concentrated into a depression and lay centered over coastal Odisha. It is likely to move gradually north-westwards and then weaken into well marked low pressure area over Chhattisgarh and neighbourhood on Wednesday, the IMD said.
Under its influence, there will be heavy to very heavy rains in some parts of north-coastal Andhra and scattered moderate rain in other coastal districts, the bulletin said.
On Tuesday, Palasa in Srikakulam district witnessed highest rain of 62.4 mm, followed by 54.4 mm at Pathapatnam, 44.6 mm at Ichchapuram, 41.2 mm at Tekkali (all Srikakulam), 32.0 mm at Narsapuram (West Godavari), 31.8 mm at Amalapuram (Konaseema) 31.2 mm at Rajahmundry (East Godavari) 30.8 mm at Kurupam (Vizianagaram).
The IMD predicted that heavy rain is likely to occur at isolated places over Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari and Yanam districts on Wednesday. There would be thunderstorms accompanied with lightning and gusty winds with speed 40- 50 kmph might occur at times, at isolated places over all the districts of Andhra Pradesh.
Meanwhile, the low-pressure in Bay of Bengal also resulted in moderate to heavy rain at several places across Telangana, the highest rain being 83.1 mm at Wankidi in Kumuram Bheem district in the last 24 hours, followed by 68.3 mm at Rebbana (Kumuram Bheem).
Moderate rain ranging from 15.6 mm to 64.4 mm was recorded in many places over Adilabad, Kumuram Bheem, Mancherial, Nirmal, Jagtial, Nizamabad, Jayashankar, Mulugu, Sangareddy, Medchal-Malkajgiri, Vikarabad, Rangareddy, Mahabubnagar, Nagarkurnool and Nalgonda districts.
The heavy rains also resulted in huge inflows into Krishna and Godavari rivers. At Bhadrachalam, the authorities issued first warning signal as the water level in Godavari river reached 43 feet at Bhadrachalam. The water has been rising since Monday afternoon hours with incessant rains in the upper catchment area of the river and due to increased inflows from its tributaries.
District collector Anudeep Durishetty in a statement said that due to inflows into the river from Godavari tributaries — Pranahita and Indravati rivers — the water level at Bhadrachalam might reach 55 feet by Tuesday night.
In July, the Godavari river received unprecedented floods with water level at Bhadrachalam touching 75 ft on July 17, inundating vast areas in Aswapuram, Bhadrachalam, Cherla, Dummugudem and Manugur blocks forcing the residents to move to rehabilitation centres.
