Heavy rain accompanied with gusty winds on Saturday night reportedly lead to death of a person and at Simon Nagar in Duvvada area in Visakhapatnam city. Though the incident occurred on Saturday night, it came to light after police registered a case on Sunday.
The deceased was identified as P. Bhanu Ajay (36), a resident of Simon Nagar.
According to the police, Bhanu Ajay, who used to run a grocery store, along with his cousins, went to the terrace on the fifth floor to enjoy the cool breeze. Due to the strong gales, a parapet wall reportedly fell on them. Bhanu Ajay sustained severe head injuries, while others managed to escape..
“He was immediately shifted to a private hospital and then referred to King George Hospital (KGH), where he was declared brought dead. We received information after 2 a.m. on Sunday,” the police said.
After the heavy rain and gale on Saturday night, drain water overflowed onto the roads in many areas in the city, including One Town, MVP Colony, HB Colony and Daba Gardens, making it difficult to move on road for pedestrians and motorists. There were incidents of wall collapse at Gopalapatnam, Chinna Waltair, Duvvada and Dabagardens. People residing on hillocks were in a state of fear for almost two hours due to gale and also spent a sleepless night.
A number of trees and their branches fell on roads in many areas disrupting traffic in the city. GVMC took up restoration work early in the morning. However, a number of areas are yet to be cleared of the mess. The GVMC officials are yet to ascertain the loss.
“A number of sanitary staff were deployed to the affected areas and they began clearing of the debris. Many of the clogged drains have been cleared. However, being a Sunday, due to shortage of manpower, several areas are yet to be cleaned,” said GVMC Chief Medical Officer of Health K.S.L.G. Sastry.
According to Dr. Sastry, a majority of the affected areas are in Zone V.
Additional Director (Horticulture) A. Damodara Rao said that fallen trees and branches were cleared on a war-footing at many areas including Rama Talkies, Vivekananda Colony, MVP Colony, KRM Colony, Dondaparthy, Relli Veedhi, Chengalraopeta and Gopalapatnam.
