RailEnquiry

Hyderabad: The cyclonic storm ‘Nilam’ has left a trail of death and destruction in Andhra Pradesh, claiming at least 17 lives and destroying standing crops over large areas in the coastal region.As many as 14 districts in the state were battered by heavy rains in the aftermath of “Nilam” storm. Several areas, particularly in the coastal belt, received heavy rains up to as high as 25-30 cm in the last 24 hours, throwing normal life out of gear.Hundreds of rivulets, streams and tanks are overflowing, causing heavy damage to roads, railway bridges and houses in low-lying areas. Several residential localities in Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam, Rajahmundry, Eluru, Vijayawada, Guntur and Ongole were submerged in water. While Narasapur in West Godavari district recorded a maximum of 31 cm of rain, Amalapuram and Rajahmundry in East Godavari district received 27 and 25 cm of rain each. Similarly, Yelamanchili and Chodavaram in Visakhapatnam district recorded a rainfall of 25 cm and 23 cm, respectively.Officials of Cyclone Warning Centre in Visakhapatnam announced that there would be heavy to very heavy rains for the next 48 hours in the coastal Andhra, besides moderate to heavy rains in the Telangana districts bordering the coastal areas. “Cyclone Nilam has transformed into depression over the coastal Andhra and Telangana. Adding to this depression, the north-east monsoon has been very active in the region, causing heavy rains,” the CWC officials said.

The Congress government’s handling of the situation came in for sharp criticism from the Opposition. The Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy became the target of the Opposition attack for visiting New Delhi to participate in the Congress party’s rally at Ram Lila grounds instead of supervising the relief works.

“The people are suffering because of inept handling of the situation and callousness of the ruling party leaders,” the Telugu Desam Party president and former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said.

On his part, Naidu announced that he would take a break from his ongoing padayatra and visit the flood-ravaged areas in the coastal Andhra on Monday.

The Chief Minister’s Office, however, claimed that Kiran Kumar Reddy had reviewed the floor situation through a teleconference from New Delhi and gave instructions to the officials to take up the relief works on war footing.

According to the disaster management department officials, out of 17 deaths reported so far, three persons died due to electrocution, another three persons died because of wall collapse, while the remaining got drowned in floods in various places.

As many as 36 relief camps have been set up and 6,382 families comprising 19,421 people have been shifted to these camps where drinking water and food was being provided to the victims.

As many as 480 houses were fully damaged and another 766 houses were partially damaged.

The South Central Railway (SCR) has announced diversion of several trains as water was flowing above the danger mark at a railway bridge between the Tuni-Gullipadu on the Vijayawada-Visakhapatnam section.