Heavy to very heavy rains began lashing parts of south Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema as the depression in the Bay of Bengal crossed the coast between Chennai and Puducherry around 4am on Friday.
Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management commissioner K Kanna Babu said there have been very heavy rains in parts of Chittoor, Kadapa, and Prakasam districts and Anantapur along with gales with a speed of 45-65km per hour.
He said emergency rescue teams, along with those from state and national disaster management forces, were rushed to Chittoor, Kadapa, and Nellore districts. He warned the fishermen against venturing into the sea and alerted the people in the low-lying areas of all the affected districts.
“Remaining parts of coastal Andhra, too, would receive light to moderate rainfall,” he said.
The temple town of Tirumala-Tirupati, which was flooded after heavy rains on Thursday, also received rainfall.
Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, which manages the shrine of Lord Venkateshwara on Tirumala hills, on Friday announced the resumption of traffic on the down ghat road which was shut down for the last 12 hours due to landslides and overflowing streams on the hills.
A spokesman for the TTD said the traffic was restored for devotees stranded in Tirumala and in Tirupati.
{{/usCountry}}A spokesman for the TTD said the traffic was restored for devotees stranded in Tirumala and in Tirupati.
{{/usCountry}}Due to the heavy downpour on Thursday in Tirupati, the TTD stopped the entry of pilgrims. The gushing waters of Kapila Teertham uprooted three of the temple pillars. The pillars were restored immediately.
Tirupati (urban) police superintendent Venkata Appala Naidu sounded a high alert and asked people not to come out of their houses in view of the inundation of several colonies, till the normalcy is restored. “The heavy rains are likely to continue for another 48 hours, The rescue teams are working round the clock to provide relief to the stranded people. They can call the emergency control room number 6309913960, in case of emergency,” he said.
In the Nellore district, with an inflow of nearly four lakh cusecs (cubic feet per second), the irrigation authorities opened 11 gates of the Somasila reservoir.
Nellore collector KVN Chakradhar Babu and irrigation officials were supervising the rescue operations of the people in the adjacent areas.
Several streams and rivulets in the Nellore district were in the spate and submerged 13 villages.
In Kadapa, Annamayya, Penna Ahobilam, and Mylavaram reservoirs are overflowing.
The people in the low-lying areas are being evacuated. Thousands of acres of standing crop were inundated.