Vijayawada: Continuous rains due to depression in the Bay of Bengal has wreaked havoc in the district.
Velagaleru in G. Konduru mandal of Krishna district received 74.5 mm rainfall on Tuesday which was the highest rainfall across the state. Vijayawada city received 56.75 mm rainfall. Residents on the hilly terrains of Vijayawada were in fear as huge boulders were falling and the district administration has taken measures to alert the people. Rain lashed the city on Tuesday and huge trees have fallen due to winds and gales.
Compound wall of Velagapudi Lakshmana Dattu High School in the 5th lane of Kedareswarapet collapsed on Tues-day morning and four motorbikes and a car parked beside the wall got damaged. Huge tree fell of at AKTP School in Satyanarayanapuram and caused inconvenience to the locals.
City roads got inundated with huge rain and people avoided coming out of their houses. Huge boulders slided down Gunadala hill creating tension for the residents of Carmel Nagar and Gangireddudibba in the city and district collector B. Lakshmikantham directed the officials to alert residents of hilly terrains at Gunadala and old city areas to move to shelters arranged locally.
The district collector called upon the public to make use of two help-lines arranged at Vijaya-wada and Machilipatnam considering the huge rains. People can call 0866-2474804 and 08672-252572 in case of an emergency, he said.
Meanwhile, highest rainfall of 65.4 mm was recorded in Tullur in the Amaravati capital region.
The incessant rains due to depression in Bay of Bengal helped starting cultivation in some areas while overflowing of local streams cut off the connection in some other areas of Guntur district. The farming community is busy in tilling and sowing works.
The “Stream of Sorrow” Kondaveeti Vagu along with Pala Vagu started overflowing on the Guntur-Amaravati road on Tuesday evening. Recalling about the cutting of the transportation last year by Kondaveeti Vagu floodwater, Amaravati Develo-pment Authority chairman J. Veeranjaneyulu said that Kondaveeti Vagu is likely to overflow if the rain continues for another few hours.
Mentioning about the absence of caution board in Amaravati, he sought installation of caution boards for the safety of the public.
The cotton crop in several areas of Amaravati (old) mandal marooned due to floodwater from the local streams. Peekala Vagu is overflowing on Amaravati-Krosuru Road and Muthayapalem-Didugu Road which stopped transportation.
Mella Vagu is overflowing at Narukullapadu on the Amaravati-Guntur Road and Kondeveeti Vagu flow is increasing due to floodwater at Yandrai. Cotton and other crops in the adjacent fields of the local streams have marooned.
Amaravati tahsildar Bhaskar Rao and sub-inspector Sk Rahamtu-llah inspected the marooned areas and installed caution boards.
Meanwhile, farmers in Palnadu area started tilling and sowing activities with the help of incessant rains. Tullur recorded highest rainfall of 65.4 mm followed by Medikon-duru with 62mm, Dachepalli 58.2 mm, Pedakurapadu 55.8mm, Bellamkonda 54.4mm, Peda Kakani 52.4 mm, Amaravati 50.2 mm and rest of mandals recorded moderate rainfall of 50 mm to 15 mm.
