Rain throws life out of gear in Machilipatnam

Vijayawada: Normal life was thrown out of gear in Machilipatnam and other parts of Krishna district due to heavy rains triggered by cyclonic storm Michaung, which crossed the coast near Bapatla on Tuesday.

All 25 mandals in Krishna district received rains on Monday and Tuesday damaging the paddy crop and horticulture crops and inundating the low-lying areas in many parts of the district, particularly the coastal mandals.

The cyclone formed in Bay of Bengal centered near Nellore on Tuesday morning crossed the Bapatla coast in the afternoon resulting in heavy rainfall in the coastal villages. Kruthivennu mandal received 16.9 cm rainfall from 8.30 am to 4.30 pm.

Bantumilli recorded 11.4 cm, Pedana 6.4, Gannavaram 5.1, and Bapulapadu 5.64 cm. The rains continued from Monday to Tuesday evening disrupting the normal life in Machilipatnam and inundating the low-lying areas. Commuters suffered hardship in the district headquarter Machilipatnam due to water logging problems on the main roads. Water logging caused hardships to the commuters at Court centre, Koneru centre, Lakshmi talkies centre and other areas of the city.

Krishna district collector P Rajababu, SP Joshua and other officials visited the low-lying areas in the coastal villages and asked the people to leave the homes and stay in the relief camps set up by the district administration.

The revenue and police officials were on high alert in Nagayalanka, Koduru, Challapalli, Machilipatnam, Bantumilli, Avanigadda and Mopidevi, which are vulnerable areas and there is a possibility of causing loss of lives to the people and livestock.

Collector Rajababu said 3,300 people have been shifted to 67 relief camps in the district and provided food and other basic amenities. He said the relief centres were set up at Koduru, Nagayalanka, Machilipatnam, Kruttivennu, Avanigadda, Mopidevi, Bantumilli and Challapalli mandals.

Farmers suffered heavy loss due to crop damage caused by incessant rains. Keeping in view of the cyclone, farmers have harvested the paddy crop and shifted to the paddy procurement centres, godowns and other places to prevent the damage.