Hyderabad: Heavy rain crippled normal life in AP on Thursday. Guntur, Prakasam, Kakinada, Kurnool and parts of North Andhra and Rayalaseema bore the brunt of the deluge.
Six people were confirmed dead in Guntur while a few more were washed away in the same district. One person was washed away in Visakhapatnam. Andhra Pradesh police along with NDRF was involved in several rescue operations.
Additional DG (Law and Order), R.P. Thakur said, "We used ropes to rescue people stuck in flash floods in several places. Our men saved several lives."
Thousands of people are stranded after record rain in parts of Guntur.
Thousands were evacuated from affected colonies in Narasaraopet and other towns. A 55-year-old man was swept away as water flow increased in Varaha River at Patharoad under Kotavuratla mandal in Vizag district on Thursday when he was bathing in the river.
The missing person was identified as Karri Appala Naidu, who was on Bhavani deeksha. Police have launched search operations.
Heavy rain lashed Paruchuru, Yaddanapudi, Marturu and Santamaguluru mandals of Prakasam district from Wednesday night. The rainfall was to the extent of 5 cm to 7 cm in these mandals as against the average rainfall of 1.5 cm in the district.
Saki Vagu located near Adusumilli was in spate, leading to the disruption of transportation between Parchuru and Guntur. Cotton and chilli crops in Parchuru were under a sheet of water.
Joint director of agriculture Murali Krishna ruled out any damage to the crops and maintained that rains were beneficial to the farmers cultivating black gram, cotton and paddy.
Gundlakamma vagu also overflowed between Akaveedu and Chollaveedu in Giddalur mandal and the situation is no different at Bollapalli and Veerabhadrapuram in Ardhaveedu mandal.
Kakinada and villages in the vicinity of Kakinada Rural experienced heavy rain on Thursday. Low lying areas are in knee deep water. There is waterlogging in many areas like Sambamurthy Nagar, Jagannaickpur, Cinema Road, 100 buildings and Madhuranagar.
The Bay of Bengal is rough and sea waters surged at Dummulapet, Mahakumbhabhishekam and Yetimoga. Kakinada recorded 133.8 mm rainfall on Thursday, the second highest in the district after Inavilli which registered 169.2 mm.
