Incessant rains over last 36 hours have thrown normal life out of gear in the Port City and, streams are in spate, most reservoirs around the city and in the district are overflowing and parts of the city are flooded and at some places the National Highway has got damaged causing massive traffic logjam.
Many trains have been cancelled. Ratnachal, Janmabhoomi, Simhadri, Visakhapatnam-Vijayawada passenger, Visakhapatnam Rajahmundry passenger, Visakhapatnam Kirandol passenger, have been cancelled and Coromandal Express, East Coast Express, Dibrugarh-Chennai Express have been controlled in ECoR. Many trains coming towards the city have been halted at Rajahmundry as the water is flowing over the tracks near Tuni.
National Highway 5 has got damaged near Goggulapadu and there is a 25km long traffic logjam near Annavaram. The trains coming from Vijayawada have stopped at Annavaram as the Thandava river near Tuni is in spate and the waters are flowing over the railway track. A bus coming to the city from Guntur carrying 26 passengers was washed away by the flashfloods near Dharamavaram village near Yelamanchili. The driver of the bus escaped unhurt and the police and locals are rescuing the stranded passengers.
The district administration has so far shifted 4,000 families to 19 relief camps in the district and 2200 families were shifted to six relief camps in the city. Relief and rehabilitation activities have been taken up on a war footing. All the special officers, revenue, panchayati raj, police, fire and irrigation are on the alert and working round-the-clock.
With the lifting of the gates of the Meghadrigedda reservoir at around 2:30 a.m. on Sunday flood waters reached flooded areas like Sheela Nagar and Kapujaggarajupeta. From around 5 a.m. when the waters reached the area the Navy, police and community guard teams have rescued old and infirm persons from Sheela Nagar and Kapujaggarajupeta and ferried them to a temporary relief camp organised by the district administration at Vikas College.
Once the rains stop the waters in these areas would flow into the sea, officials said.
Late on Saturday night a Navy team rescued a group of 20 ryots stranded in flood waters near Vijayaramaraju peta in Buchayyapeta Mandal and ferried them to safety.
The incessant rains have disrupted communications. Phone lines got cut and some mobile phone services are not functional in some of the areas.
The low pressure is continuing over the Bay of Bengal and isolated heavy rainfalls are likely to lash North Coastal Andhra districts in the next 24 hours, according to Director Cyclone Warning Centre Ramachandra Rao.
G V Prasada Sarma reports:
Sarada in spate, Anakapalli on alert
The river Sarada is flowing to the brim and touching the old bridge and the new bridge under construction is stemming the flow of the river.
The district administration is strengthening the river bund with sandbags. Residents of Sriramnagar, Leprosy Colony, FC Colony, NGOs colony have been evacuated. Two parks in the town are under water.
The fire brigade and the police personnel are working overtime to stop the waters from entering the town. The residents of the town have been put on alert.
