Rain continues to batter parts of coastal district for fourth day
TIRUPATI: Rain continued to lash SPSR Nellore, Tirupati, Chittoor and Prakasam districts for the fourth consecutive day under the impact of cyclone Mandous, on Monday, affecting normal life and inundating low-lying areas.
Moderate to heavy rains at regular intervals from Sunday night to Monday afternoon led to swollen drains, disruption of vehicular traffic and bringing normal life to a standstill in the urban areas of Nellore and Tirupati and its suburbs.
According to real time data, the cumulative rainfall average in SPSR Nellore district was 33.5mm, Prakasam 34.4mm and Tirupati district 23.7mm, for 24 hours ending by evening on Monday. In Nellore, the Ulavapadu mandal recorded the highest rainfall with 120.8mm, followed by Kandukur with 114mm, Allur with 52.4mm and Vorativaripalem with 51.6mm. In Prakasam, the Ponnalur mandal received 84.2mm rainfall followed by Yerragondapalem with 82mm and Marripadu with 65.4mm.
In Tirupati, the Balayapalli mandal recorded the highest rainfall of 58mm up to 7pm. The cumulative average rainfall in Tirupati urban on Monday from 8.30am to 7pm was 35.2mm with the average rainfall being 30.8mm in Tirupati division.
From Sunday night until Monday morning, Tirupati had moderate to severe rainfall. Around noon, another wave of heavy rain hammered the temple city, flooding several low-lying areas. As a result of overflowing sewers, waterlogging was observed on roadways and other major intersections.
Three small houses, which were built on the main drain, partially collapsed in Bandaru colony of Tirupati city on Monday evening. Local MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy along with civic officials rushed to the spot and rescued the inmates, who suffered minor injuries. The MLA assured the victims of all help and compensation from the government.
Meanwhile, the Chillakuru police, in coordination with the revenue department, rescued residents of Tippagunta Palem village in Chillakuru mandal under the Gudur division after the road connectivity to their village was cut due to the overflowing of the Uppeteru stream.
Gudur RDO Kiran Kumar, assisted by police and boats, rescued a dialysis patient and a pregnant woman who needed immediate medical attention. They were sent to the Gudur government hospital in an ambulance.
Chittoor district has some respite from the cyclonic storm as rains have subsided in many mandals. The district’s cumulative rainfall average, from 8am to 8pm on Monday was 19.5mm, with Somala mandal receiving the highest rainfall of 45.2mm, followed by Chowdepalli with 35.8mm.
As the heavy rains inundated a large extent of agriculture fields in the district, paddy at the harvesting stage has been destroyed on about 199.12 hectares.
Heavy rains also destroyed groundnut on 224.6 hectares, maize on 66.6 hectares, black gram on 38.4 hectares, and sugarcane on 19.6 hectares. Horticulture crops such as brinjal, cauliflower, tomato, potato, flowers, chilli, banana, beans, gourds, betel vine and cabbage, spread across 149.6 hectares were damaged. In all, around 377 horticulture farmers incurred an estimated total loss of Rs 2.1 crore.
