Rains lash Andhra, Telangana; conditions conducive for monsoon

Heavy rain lashed parts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on Saturday, Met officials said, as conditions became conducive for further progress of monsoon in the two states.

Some parts of coastal Andhra Pradesh received rainfall of over six cm since Friday. The pre-monsoon showers further brought down temperatures and cheered the people in the two states, where a searing heat wave claimed over 2,200 lives this summer.

However, the heavy rains inundated low-lying areas and hit normal life in East Godavari district in coastal Andhra Pradesh. The gales damaged banana crops in the region.

Heavy rain also lashed Hyderabad on Saturday evening, inundating roads in busy areas in and around the city and throwing vehicular traffic out of gear.

According to the Hyderabad Meteorological Centre, conditions were favourable for further advance of the South West monsoon to some parts of Rayalaseema and South coastal Andhra Pradesh in the next two days.

The trough of low pressure from Vidarbha to South Tamil Nadu across Telangana and Rayalaseema also persists.

The Met office forecast moderate to rather heavy rains or thundershowers at many places in coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema.

It also warned of heavy rains at a few places in the districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna, and Guntur of coastal Andhra Pradesh and in the districts of Anantapur, Kurnool, Kadapa, and Chittoor of Rayalaseema.

Rain occurred at many places over coastal Andhra Pradesh and at isolated places over Rayalaseema since Friday.

The highest rainfall of 11 cm was recorded at Gudivada in Krishna ditrict. Prathipadu and Amalapuram received 9 cm each.

The highest maximum temperature of 41 degrees Celsius was recorded at Ongole in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh.

The Met office also forecast moderate to rather heavy rainfall at many places and heavy rains at isolated places in Adilabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar and Khammam districts of Telangana.

Rain occurred at isolated places over Telangana since Friday.

The highest rainfall of seven cm was recorded at Kunavaram, Venkatapuram and Mulakalapalle, all in Khammam district.

The highest temperature of 39 degrees Celsius was recorded at Khammam, Nalgonda and Ramagundam. The maximum temperature at all places in Telangana was below 40 degrees.

The heat wave claimed 2,219 lives in the two states last month. Andhra Pradesh accounted for 1,677 deaths, while 542 people died of sunstroke in Telangana.