Sudden showers inundate city roads

Vijayawada: Denizens of Vijayawada got respite on Tuesday from scorching heat following sudden change of weather and two hours rainfall in different parts of the city. The city plunged into darkness by 3 pm with dark clouds hovering over the city.

Citizens have been facing harsh weather conditions due to rising levels of mercury for the past one month. Nearly two hours rainfall has changed the weather conditions in the city giving big relief from the scorching heat on Tuesday. The city recorded over 40 degrees temperature till afternoon on Tuesday also.  

However, since afternoon, the weather suddenly changed as thick black clouds hovered over the city. Temperature came down drastically followed by strong gales. 

Rain started at 4 pm and continued till 6 pm in different parts of the city disrupting power supply. Rainwater stagnated on many roads of the city due to sudden cloudburst.

As usual, water stagnated in the low bridge disrupting the traffic. Two-wheeler riders suffered due to stagnation of water. Vehicular traffic came to a standstill since afternoon as most people stayed away from the roads due to sudden rain.

Hundreds of trees were uprooted and many advertisement hoardings crashed to the ground due to strong gales. Power supply was restored only late in the night after weather returned to normal level. 

With the recent warning given by the Disaster Management Department, people are not taking risk and staying indoors. The district administration is on high alert and using social media to alert people about the thunderstorms.

On Tuesday afternoon, the State Disaster Management has sent warning messages to the people through the social media about the possibility of thunderstorms in the mandals of Agiripalli, Gampalagudem, Vissannapeta, Chatrai, Gannavaram, Kalidindi and nearby places.

As announced, sudden rainfall and gales struck many mandals damaging the paddy crop, which was already harvested. If the paddy stocks are soaked, the colour will change resulting in loss to the farming community.