Highway traffic went haywire all along the coastal districts on Tuesday with vehicles stranded at various points on National Highway 5 on account of overflowing streams and breaches to the main roads.
With the highway cut at Manubolu, long queues of trucks and other vehicles formed on either side of the divider from midnight Monday. Authorities said restoration work will not begin until floodwaters recede, which may not be until Thursday night or Friday morning.
All traffic between Chennai and Vijayawada is being diverted via the Ongole and Kadapa routes. From Gudur and Sullurupeta, traffic is being allowed to reach Chennai.
At another spot on the highway, flood waters inundated the passage near Sullurupeta due to the overflowing Kalangi stream but traffic was allowed to proceed but warily.
Passenger trains between Chennai and Nellore have been stalled for the time being.
In Prakasam district, which on the whole has been less affected by rains, rail and road traffic headed to destinations in Tamil Nadu was disrupted nevertheless on Tuesday. Long distance trains to Chennai and other southern destinations from Kolkata and other cities in the east were disrupted. The Howrah-Chennai Coromandel Express, Bikaner-Chennai Express and Dibrugarh-Kanyakumari Express were among the trains that were held up following rains, railway officials said. ''We expect restoration of at least one of the two railway lines on the mainline for traffic by evening or night,'' they said.
Movement of trucks and other vehicles on the Chennai-Kolkata highway was also dislocated. Following this, authorities diverted all Chennai-bound vehicles from Ongole via Podili, Bestavaripeta, Porumamilla, Mydukur and Renigunta.
The rains left arterial roads in the city, including the Kurnool trunk road under a sheet of water. Indiramma Colony, Kesarajukunta, Balram Colony, Venkateswara Nagar and Netaji Nagar were among the localities inundated as Ongole recorded 6.8 cm of rainfall in the last 24 hours.
The rains have come as a big relief for farmers as all the 56 mandals, where a drought-like situation prevailed hitherto, have benefited by the current wet spell, said Agriculture Joint-Director J. Muralikrishna.
Up north, in Srikaklulam, hundreds of passengers were stranded at the Srikakulam railway station with the cancellation of many trains on the Howrah-Chennai route due to the floods in Nellore. Many travellers were not aware of the floods and cancellation of trains. Railway officials made arrangements for refund of charges for the cancelled trains.
