Andhra Pradesh braces for more rains

The Met Department forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places over north coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam on Thursday, and heavy rain in parts of south coastal Andhra Pradesh.

Amaravati: As some regions of Andhra Pradesh recover from the recent spell of incessant rains and floods, the Met Department on Thursday said a new low pressure area has formed over the Bay of Bengal, which is likely to bring heavy rainfall in parts of the State till September 9. The weather system formed over the west-central and adjoining northwest Bay of Bengal off north Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha coasts.

The Met Department forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places over north coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam on Thursday, and heavy rain in parts of south coastal Andhra Pradesh. It also forecast thunderstorms accompanied by lightning in parts of north and south coastal Andhra, Yanam and Rayalaseema with wind speeds reaching up to 40 km per hour.

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Meanwhile, an inter-ministerial team from the Central government on Thursday began its visit of the flood-affected districts in Andhra Pradesh. The team headed by Sanjeev Kumar Jindal visited Vijayawada, the worst affected place, to estimate the losses and destruction, said an official press release. The Central team visited the State Emergency Operations Centre in the Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority (APSDMA) office in Tadepalli, where officials explained about the torrential rains and floods.

Later, the officials also visited Prakasam Barrage, which was recently hit by three large drifting boats, damaging a concrete beam. As the flood waters began to recede at many places here, personnel of the Vijayawada civic body are busily engaged in sanitation work and also restoring water supply, an official said on Thursday. However, Vijayawada Municipal Commissioner HM Dhyanachandra said people must refrain from drinking the restored municipal tap water at the moment as it was not potable.

“Today, we are focusing on municipal water resumption and sanitation. By today evening, the water supply will be restored. But they (people) cannot drink water because there will be a lot of silting,” Dhyanachandra said. He said the civic body will launch a campaign to dissuade people from drinking tap water. On Wednesday, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said water supplied by the municipality should not be used for the first two days at least as it has to be tested for quality, considering its muddied nature due to the unprecedented deluge.