Heavy rains continue in AP, death toll rises to 9

Vijayawada: The toll in rain-related incidents in Andhra Pradesh increased to nine with four more deaths reported on Thursday.

One death was reported from Guntur, where a person got washed away in the flood water.

Three persons were killed in Visakhapatnam district, where one died in house collapse whereas two others got washed away in flood, according to state disaster management commissioner K Dhananjay Reddy.

In all, six persons have died so far in Guntur district and three others killed in Visakhapatnam. Five persons were yesterday killed in separate rain-related incidents in Guntur.

Heavy rains continued in Palnadu area of Guntur district apart from East Godavari, Prakasam, Visakhapatnam and Krishna districts.

Very heavy rainfall under the influence of a low pressure area over Bay of Bengal had yesterday left Palnadu region in Guntur battered and rail and road transport disrupted due to flooding.

Three teams of NDRF have been deployed for rescue and relief operation. This was the second time in less than a fortnight that Palnadu witnessed very heavy downpour which threw normal life out of gear.

Many passenger trains were yesterday cancelled on Nadikudi-Guntur section, while express trains from Secunderabad, which normally pass through Guntur, were diverted as the rail tracks near Piduguralla were inundated.

The rivulets in Guntur district were in spate, inundating housing colonies in Sattenapalli town and nearby villages.

Deputy Chief Minister (Home and Disaster Management) N China Rajappa and Agriculture Minister P Pulla Rao had yesterday rushed to Guntur district to oversee the rescue and relief operations.

PTI