Sirens for thunderbolts

Vijayawada: The district administration has decided to arrange alarm sirens in 970 village panchayats of the district at a cost of Rs 12 lakh to alert people and save lives from the thunderbolts and lightning.

It may be recalled that thunderbolts and downpour have become common these days due to formation of cumulonimbus clouds. Due to increasing heat, thick clouds are formed over the sky resulting in thunderbolts, gales and cloudburst.

Villagers are getting panicked due to thunderbolts and heavy rain. Nearly, 30 people, mostly villagers, died in the state due to thunderbolts during the past few weeks. The Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management is sending warning alerts by SMS to the people where there is a possibility of lightning and thunderbolts.

Though the messages are reaching 30 to 40 minutes before the disaster, people are not able to get information due to lack of arrangements like loud speakers or sirens. All villagers don’t have mobile phones facility. Most of the warning messages are sent by mobiles only. Information is also passed to VROs, VAOs and panchayat staff.

Now, the district administration has decided to install alarm sirens in all panchayats at the earliest. District Collector B Lakshmikantham said on Tuesday that the district administration would arrange sirens on an experimental basis at the earliest. He suggested to the people not to stand under the trees and open places when there is a possibility of thunderbolts striking the area.