Heavy rains lash Andhra’s Nellore and Chittoor districts /13 fishermen reported missing

Amaravathi, 12 November (H.S): Under the impact of depression in the Bay of Bengal, heavy rains lashed parts of Nellore and Chittoor district since the early hours of Thursday. Temple town Tirupati recorded more than 10 cms of rain with bus stand and railway station inaundated in rain water. Many colonies are badly affected .State transport has suspended all buses to Tirumala owing to heavy rains .

District administrations of Chittoor and Nellore have announced holidays to all educational institutions today and tomarrow keeping the cyclone alert in view. Both district administrations have canceled all leaves to all officials and instructed them to be on duties until further orders. Coastal mandals of Nellore district were put on high alert. Coastal areas of Nellore district including Sullurpeta, Doravarisatram, Chittamur, Chillakur, Vakadu, Indukurpet, Kodavaluru, Vidavaluru, Alluru, Kavali areas experiencing heavy rainfall.

Collector KVN Chakradhar Babu is monitoring the situation and instructed officials to be on alert and shift the people residing in low-lying areas to safer places. Krishnapatnam port hoisted the flag denoting ‘Signal 1’ cyclone warning. 13 fisherman who ventured into sea near ongole Coast are reported missing when the reports last came in.Coast guard has been alerted to trace the missing fishermen .A Emergency control room has been setup at district colletor office .

Tirupati airport has been shut and flights diverted to Hyderabad owing to water logging and bad weather.