JOIN USHeavy rain in Andhra Pradesh over the past 24 hours created havoc with many farmers complaining that their crops have been destroyed.
Heavy rains hit Chittoor, Anantapur and Kurnool of Rayalaseema, Nellore and Prakasam of coastal AP and Mahbubnagar, Ranga Reddy, Medak, Hyderabad, Nalgonda, Warangal and Khammam of Telangana. Now the low pressure area lies over north interior Karnataka and nearby areas.
Meanwhile, early rains have damaged standing paddy crops in Guntur, Warangal, Adilabad, Medak and Nalgonda districts. Many farmers who have harvested the crops and left in the fields for drying are in shock over the early rainfall.
Farmers who have transported the paddy to the market yards are now demanding compensation as the yards do not have sufficient space to store the paddy. According to the Met office here, the low pressure area became well-marked during the next 24 hours and will cause heavy rainfall.
Kerala
Despite widespread damage and loss of lives, summer rains in Kerala and Tamil Nadu showed signs of respite on Friday. In Kerala, the state’s northern parts received heavy rains in the last 24 hours, with Thalassery in Kannur district recording a “very heavy” rainfall of 21 cm. Mattannur in Kannur district recorded 20 cms, while Angadippuram and Perinthalmanna in Malappuram received 17 and 16 cm respectively.
Irikkur in Kannur and Vadakara in Kozhikode (15 cm each), Vythiri in Wayanad (14 cm), and Thrissur (13 cm) are the other places where rainfall was heavy. Parts of Palakkad and Kasaragod districts also received heavy downpour, while the southern districts that witnessed incessant rains for the past three days had a clearer skies on Friday, as the low pressure drifted northwards.
In Thiruvananthapuram, houses were damaged after a retainer wall collapsed on them. The Met centre predicted more rains at isolated places in the northern districts till Saturday, and also extended warning for fishermen. Meanwhile, train movement through Ernakulam was restored early on Friday. Tracks in the Ernakulam South railway station were flooded on Thursday leading to diversion and cancellation of more than 10 schedules.
Tamil Nadu
Southern Tamil Nadu districts, battered by heavy rains for a week due to a deep depression in Bay of Bengal, received a respite on Friday even as death toll due to the downpours increased from three to seven in the state.
Two persons were killed and another was injured when a huge tree fell on them at Nelliyalam taluk in Nilgris district on Thursday night while another two, including a woman, were drowned in flood waters in Kaniyakumari district.
The southern parts of Tamil Nadu will receive some respite as the depression is moving towards the land area.
"The depression has changed its course and it is drifting towards land area. Therefore, the occurrence of rain will slowly reduce in the next 24 hours", Deputy Director General of Meteorology in Chennai, S R Ramanan, said on Friday.
As sea conditions are still rough, fishermen from Tamil Nadu and Kerala were advised not to venture into the sea, he said. Despite crippling normal life in the state, the rains have filled up important reservoirs and lakes that supply drinking water, especially in the southern region.