Cyclone Nivar: Winds with a speed of 45-65 kmph lashed SPS Nellore and Chittoor.
Amaravati:
Normal life was thrown out of balance as heavy or extremely heavy rains between 6 and 30 cm hit at least half of Andhra Pradesh under the influence of Cyclone Nivar, leaving one person dead.
It was feared that another farmer would be swept away as NDRF personnel rescued two others from a reservoir in the Chittoor district.
According to the State Disaster Management Authority, SPS Nellore, Chittoor, Kadapa, Krishna, Prakasam and East Godavari districts received heavy to extremely heavy rains in more than 177 locations.
Other districts such as Anantapuramu, Kurnool, Guntur and West Godavari were also receiving moderate to heavy rains under the impact of Nivars.
He said wind speeds of 45 to 65 km / h were hitting the SPS Nellore and Chittoor districts bordering Tamil Nadu. Tirumala Hills, the abode of Lord Venkateswara, has been receiving incessant rain since Wednesday, causing many hardships for hundreds of devotees stranded there.
In the SPS Nellore district, which was hit the hardest with rains of up to 30 cm, at least 3,363 people were transferred to 115 relief camps from vulnerable areas, said district collector Chakradhar Babu.
The Swarnamukhi River in the SPS Nellore district was in flood while the Somasila Reservoir received an influx of 65,000 cusecs.
The State Minister of Water Resources, P Anil Kumar, visited some aid camps and spoke with the affected people.
Later, he reviewed the situation with his department officials and ordered them to make sure there were no breaches in the tanks.
The reservoirs in SPS Nellore, Chittoor, and Kadapa districts were filled to the brim, after which excess water poured into streams and rivulets downstream.
This has caused water to overflow onto roads in many places, cutting off road communication and also flooding agricultural fields.
The uprooted trees also blocked traffic on the roads in Kadapa, Chittoor and SPS Nellore districts.
The rain left crops standing on several hundred acres flooded in some districts, according to preliminary reports received from the State Disaster Management Authority.
Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy reviewed the situation with senior officials and asked the respective district collectors to be on high alert and provide any assistance required. The Chief Minister asked the SPS Nellore District Collector to provide all assistance to the family of the person who was electrocuted to death on Wednesday.
In the Chittoor district, three farmers went to their fields to search for electric motors, but were suddenly caught in a swirling flood from the Mallemadugu reservoir on Thursday. While NDRF and State Fire and Emergency Response Services personnel rescued two farmers, another was dragged away and efforts were made to track him down.
“We tried to deploy a helicopter for the rescue operation, but inclement weather did not allow it. Still, our teams continue the search operation for the missing farmer,” said Chittoor district collector Narayana Bharat Gupta.
He asked people not to venture out of their homes for two days in view of the turbulent situation.
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