Heavy rains crippled normal life in Pilgrim city

Tirupati: The unabated heavy rains lashing the pilgrim city for the past twenty-four hours crippled normal life.

Traffic on the second ghat road (down ghat road) was disrupted after a huge tree fell across the road.

A boulder displaced in the heavy rains fell on a vehicle alerting TTD engineering and vigilance officials after the pilgrims reported it, seeking pilgrims to be wary of landslips and boulders falling from hill slopes while going up to Tirumala.

At Alipiri tollgate and other places, TTD authorities through public address system directing the pilgrims to drive cautiously on the ghat road.

Tirumala temple surrounded with a sheet of water while visibility on the hilltop town fell sharply due to torrent rains and the subsequent thick fog enveloping the entire hills.

The temple staff having a tough time in pumping out the pouring rainwater in the shrine while devotees faced much inconvenience with no respite in the rains.

Water entered the residences on the banks of the two major streams Kapila theertham and Malavanigundam that are in spate due to down pour in Tirumala forest area, meandering through one dozen localities in the city down the hills while the low lying areas left in knee deep water due to heavy rains coupled with the overflowing waters of the two streams inundating the areas.

The incessant rains forced the people remain indoors and also most of the shops remain shut down and deterred vendors venturing out resulting in the busy streets looking deserted.

The ongoing works of Garuda Varadhi passing through the town for about 4 kms, obstructing free flow of rain water added more to the woes of the people.

Luckily there was no interruption to power supply except few times and some localities in the past one day giving some relief to the people confined to homes in the city.