Incessant rains lash Andhra

Incessant rains continued to lash various parts of Andhra Pradesh Wednesday, overflowing rivulets, streams and tanks and throwing the normal life out of gear, officials said.

Vehicular traffic between Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra came to a halt due to floods in the Penganga river in Adilabad district of the Telangana region. The river water was flowing over some bridges on the border between the two states.

About 100 villages in three mandals of Adialabad district were also cut-off as roads and bridges came under flood water.

The Penganga is receiving heavy inflows due to discharges from dams in upstream Maharashtra. The district is also receiving incessant rains for the last two days, inundating low-lying areas and overflowing lakes and tanks.

Nizamabad district, also in the Telangana region, received 12 cm rain during the last 24 hours ending Wednesday morning. The heavy rains inundated several colonies in Nizamabad town, about 180 km from here.

Water entered houses in areas like Islam Nagar, Pragati Nagar, Gautam Nagar, Chandrasekhar Nagar and Habib Nagar colonies, officials said.

Both Sri Ram Sagar Project (SRSP) across the Godavari river and Nizam Sagar Dam across the Manjira river, were receiving huge inflows from upstream, officials said.

Rains also continued to lash Khammam, Warangal and other districts in Telangana and parts of coastal Andhra.

In Khammam district, the continuing showers affected coal production in the mines of the state-owned Singareni Collieries Company. At Bhadrachalam, the level of the Godavari river was rising.

Two guns of policemen were washed away in flood water at Venkatapuram in Khammam district. Three policemen returning after combing operations in forests were caught in floods water in a stream. While they managed to reach to safety, two of them lost their guns. Police later launched a search for the weapons.

Intermittent rains continued in Hyderabad for the second day, affecting the normal life. Roads were inundated in parts of the city, throwing the traffic out of gear.

Southwest monsoon is active over Telangana and coastal Andhra and the met office has forecast more rains over the next 24 hours.

According to Visakhapatnam Cyclone Warning Centre, the low pressure area is advancing towards Madhya Pradesh. This is likely to ease the impact on Andhra Pradesh.

Heavy rains in the state had last week claimed eight lives. There were so far no reports of any casualties in the latest spell of rains.