VIJAYAWADA: Heavy rains have lashed Vijayawada city and suburban areas since Sunday night. The low-lying areas were filled with rainwater and several trees were uprooted. On Monday, a maximum rainfall of 6 cm was recorded in the city. Meanwhile, the irrigation officials are planning to release around 5,000 cusecs of water from Prakasam Barrage.
Three mandals of Krishna district, Penamaluru, Mandavalli and Gudivada, received a maximum rainfall of about 100 mm (10-11 cm) on Monday while the district’s average rainfall was at 63.9 mm (6.3 cm). Almost all the mandals in district received heavy rains.
Some areas saw long power cuts due to the rains. Meanwhile, district officials visited Machilipatnam on Monday and inspected the relief measures being taken at the camps there. People from Kruthivennu, Kodur, Machilipatnam, Nagayalanka, Pedana and Bantumilli had been shifted to various relief centres in the district. On Monday, around 3,357 people were shifted to 38 relief camps in the district. As many as 64 more shelter camps have been kept ready for emergency. As part of the precautionary measures, all schools and colleges in the district were shut on Tuesday too.
A total of 2,400 officials and staff were deployed to monitor the cyclone by District Collector B Lakshmikantham.
However, Gannavaram Airport managed to function as usual. Speaking to TNIE, Airport Director G Madhusudan Rao said, “Flight services have not been interrupted so far.”