Many parts of Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh saw heavy rains and flooding on Thursday. Areas like Lecturers’ Colony and Magunta Layout in Nellore city, as well as parts of Nellore rural and towns like Buchireddypalem, Sullurupeta and Kavali also saw flooding as a result of heavy rains that lashed the district from Wednesday night, according to reports.
Reviewing the situation on Thursday, Nellore Rural MLA Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy blamed railway department officials for the flooding outside of low-lying areas. Speaking to reporters, the MLA alleged, “In some areas like Magunta layout and Lecturers’ colony, the reason for flooding is not just heavy rains but indiscriminate works done by railway department officials and contractors, without proper consultation with the local corporation. They are indiscriminately closing culverts and doing work without notifying authorities.”
At the Magunta Layout underbridge, APSRTC buses were reportedly stranded for several hours, submerged nearly halfway due to the floods. On Thursday morning, the APSDMA (Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority) had warned of heavy rains in the morning in parts of Guntur, Prakasam, Chittoor and Nellore, Kadapa districts.
Andhra Pradesh has suffered a lot of agricultural and infrastructural damage, as a result of the recent heavy rains and floods in October. The total loss has been estimated to be around Rs 8,084 crore, of which Rs 5,000 crore was due to infrastructure damages. Agriculture and allied sectors suffered flood damage of Rs 3,000 crore as incessant rains occurred right before the harvesting period, according to reports.
A Central government team recently visited five flood-affected districts in the state — East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur and Anantapur — to assess flood damages. Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has reportedly appealed to the team to compensate the flood damages as soon as possible.
Watch: Nellore Rural MLA Sridhar Reddy speaks about flooding in the region
IANS inputs