TIRUPATI: Heavy rain which led to the overflowing of rivulets and streams led to flood-like situation at various places across Anantapur and Kadapa districts in the last 24 hours.
Life remained paralysed as people and traffic inevitably came to a standstill due to the nonstop downpour since Saturday night in the two districts.
Against the district daily average rainfall of 22.1 mm, Anantapur received 1394.8 mm rainfall during the last 24 hours, throwing life completely out of gear at several parts of the district. While Kadiri and Puttaparthi revenue divisions were impacted severely, other mandals in the district also received substantial amounts of rainfall since Saturday night.
According to the district administration rainfall reported some of the key stations among 52 stations in the district were as follows, Kadiri - 215.4 mm, Lepakshi - 100.4 mm, NP Kunta- 90 mm, Amadagur-85.2mm, Chilamathur - 80.6 mm, ODC-76.8 mm, Nallacheruvu- 72.8 mm, Gorantla - 62.2 mm.
District collector Nagalakshmi Selvarajan directed the revenue, police, fire services, electrical and municipal staff to immediately swing into action and provide relief to the people impacted by the heavy rainfall reported in the district in the last 24 hours.
Meanwhile several roads and temporarily laid roads were reportedly washed away, cutting off road connectivity at Kadiri, Puttaparthi regions in the district. Local police rushed to the spot as a standby.
In Kadapa district, a group of about 55 devotees who came from Podalakuru village in Nellore district on a pilgrimage to Yeddula Konda in Vempalle mandal were stranded at the tiny hillock as the Papagni river which received massive inflows was in full spate. Since it was dangerous for the group of devotees to cross over the Papagni river, they preferred to stay back on the hillock until the situation improved or help arrived.
The local temple trust chairman Jaya Chandra Reddy who learnt about the incident initiated steps to move the devotees to safety with the help of the local police, revenue and other departments.
