Over 15 killed, over 100 missing as heavy rains lash Andhra Pradesh; some districts plunged into darkness for more than 12 hours

-

Floods triggered by heavy rain has wreaked havoc in Andhra Pradesh, killing over 15 people and displacing over 100 more from their homes.

The situation is quite dire with the Indian Air Force and the State Disaster Relief Force and Fire Service personnel rushing in to rescue people who have been caught in the flash floods.

As per a report in News Minute, at least 12 have lost their lives after three Andhra Pradesh Road Transport Corporation buses were stuck in the floods in Kadapa district on Friday.

In another incident, an IAF chopper rescued 10 people, who had been stranded at the Chitravathi river at Veldurthi village in Chennekothapalli mandal of Anantapur district.

India Today also reported that two children had died after a three-story building in Kadiri town of Anantapur district had come crashing down.

Parts of Andhra Pradesh were left without any electricity from Friday owing to the floods. The AP southern power distribution company, according to Times of India, had formed 123 teams to execute restoration works in villages and towns in Rayalaseema districts, which was plunged into darkness.

Parts of Andhra Pradesh witnessed heavy rainfall on Friday. A heavy downpour of up to 20 cm lashed three Rayalaseema districts and one south coastal district in Andhra Pradesh.

The India Meteorological Department said that the influence of depression which crossed north Tamil Nadu and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coasts was the reason for the heavy rains.

The downpour has affected normal life, with authorities declaring a holiday for all education institutions in the affected districts.

Tirupati has also been lashed with heavy rains, causing massive floods. Visuals on Twitter showed that in some places auto rickshaws and two-wheelers had been swept away. Some other visuals showed water gushing from the hill into the Kapileswara Swamy Temple at the foot of Tirumala Hills.

The flooding had also forced authorities to keep the Sri Venkateswara temple atop Tirumala shut to devotees on Friday.

News agency PTI also reported that the two ghat roads leading to the Tirumala Hills were closed for traffic following the flood and landslides. The pedestrian stairway leading to the temple from Alipiri was also closed down.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy over phone and inquired about the situation and promised all help to the state.

The Chief Minister’s Office also issued a statement that Reddy would undertake an aerial survey of the flood-hit districts today.

The IMD has also forecast heavy rainfall for coastal Karnataka and North interior Karnataka till 23 November. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana might get scattered rains until then.

With inputs from agencies



from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/3DARRd7
FP Staff

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Both COVID-19 vaccine doses needed for good protection against B16172 variant

-
It’s been a concerning few weeks in the UK, with the B16172 variant first taking hold and then spreading to become dominant. This more infectious form of the virus, initially identified in India, is what we’re now going to have to live with – unless it is out-competed by another variant in the future. Worryingly, experts had predicted that B16172 might be able to escape some of the effects of vaccines, which if true would threaten to derail the UK’s plans to finish lifting restrictions from the end of June. However, Public Health England (PHE) has looked at the ability of various variants to evade immunity and says that the UK’s vaccines remain effective against the variants circulating, including B16172. On the surface, this looks like good news. But delve a bit deeper, and things get more complicated, says Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia. PHE’s research found a little drop-off in protection against B16172 among people who were fully vaccinated.
Read more

New coronavirus variant emerge in India: How should our COVID response change?

-
Image
After genome sequencing of over 10,000 COVID-19 cases in India, researchers have discovered a new variant with two new mutations which may be better at evading the immune system. In 15-20 percent of samples from the Indian state of Maharashtra (the state accounting for 62 percent of cases in the country) a new, double mutation in key areas of the virus has been detected. These are now known as the E484Q and L452R mutations. What makes the variant different? Both these mutations are concerning because they are located in a key portion of the virus – the spike protein – that it uses to penetrate human cells. Spike proteins attach via a “receptor binding domain”, meaning the virus can attach to receptors in our cells. These new mutations include changes to the spike protein that make it a “better fit” for human cells. This means the virus can gain entry more easily and multiply faster. Given what we have seen with other similar mutations , it might also make it harder for our immu
Read more

Aditya L1 Mission: Spacecraft is nearing its final phase, says ISRO chief

-
Aditya L1 spacecraft is nearing its final phase, and manoeuvres to enter the L1 point are expected to be completed by January 7, 2024, according to ISRO Chairman S Somanath. “Aditya is on the way. I think it has reached almost its final phase,” the ISRO chief told PTI on the sidelines of an event organised at VSSC to commemorate the 60th year of the First Sounding Rocket Launch. Aditya L1, India’s first space-based mission to study the Sun, was successfully launched on September 2 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota. The spacecraft, after travelling about 1.5 million km from Earth over 125 days, is expected to be placed in a Halo orbit around the Lagrangian point L1, considered closest to the Sun. He said that the last preparations for the spacecraft’s entry into the L1 point are currently underway incrementally.”Possibly by January 7th, the final manoeuvres will be done for entering into the L1 point,” Somanath added. Among other tasks, it will capture and tr
Read more