Rains Cut Off Road Between AP and Odisha; Five Ghat Roads Closed

 Visakhapatnam:  The depression over Bay of Bengal crossed the Odisha coast near Chilika Lake on Saturday, triggering heavy rains in parts of coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema region.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast continued downpour in parts of the north coastal Andhra Pradesh on Sunday. The IMD, Amaravati, said the depression will continue to move west-northwest across Odisha and Chhattisgarh, gradually weakening on Sunday morning. Authorities in Alluri Sitarama Raju (ASR) district moved families to safety from vulnerable areas in the district, which received heavy rainfall. Most of the streams and rivulets in ASR district are overflowing due to incessant rains over the last two days. Some roads have got cut off due to gushing streams. Trees got uprooted. IMD, Amaravati, scientist Dr. S. Karuna Sagar said Chinturu in ASR district received the highest rainfall of 21 cm between Friday 8:30 am and Saturday 8:30 am, followed by Anakapalli 13 cm, Nuzvid (Eluru district) 10 cm, Paderu and Vara Ramachandrapur in ASR district and Narsipatnam in Anakapalle district 9 cm. Araku Valley in ASR district and Kukunoor of Eluru district received 8 cm rainfall each. Visakhapatnam city, Therlam and Bondapalle (Vizianagaram district), Kurupam (Manyam district), Tekkali (Srikakulam district), Kunavaram (ASR district), Chodavarm (Anakapalle district), Rudravaram and Dornipadu (Nandyal district) recorded rainfall of 8 cm each. With incessant rains battering many parts of ASR district for the past three days, the district administration has closed five ghat roads – Paderu-Vaddadi, Paderu-Chintapalli-Kokkirapalli, Lammasingi-Downuru, Rampachodavaram-Chinturu-Maredumilli and S. Kota-Araku – from 7 pm to 6 am to avoid any untoward incidents.

Authorities will take a decision on reopening these roads after reviewing the situation on Sunday morning. Heavy rainfall washed away a section of the Chinturu-Kalleru road on NH-316 in ASR district, cutting off the road between Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. As a result, vehicular traffic has come to a grinding halt. Sources said hundreds of vehicles remain stranded on either side of the AP-Odisha border.