Heavy downpour in Andhra Pradesh: Roads flooded with water gushing down from the hills: Watch
Tirupati: Heavy downpour wrecked havoc in Tirupati while roads have been flooded with water gushing down from the hills. The rain caused severe hardships to pilgrims as the landslides forced the authorities to close roads leading to Sri Venkateswara temple atop Tirumala.
Alipiri footpath to Tirumala temple was flooded with water gushing down from the hills. Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), which manages the affairs of the famous temple, had already announced closure of Alipiri and Srivarimettlu for two days in view of heavy rains forecast.
Thanks to the downpour electricity supply to the city has been hampered. There was reportedly no electricity supply in the town since 3 p.m. on Thursday after rain water entered a sub-station.
Roads in several key areas of the town turned into cesspools due to incessant rains under the impact of northeast monsoon, which is active in Chittoor and Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh and adjoining coastal districts of Tamil Nadu.
Vehicular traffic came to a standstill in usually busy areas like Gandhi Road, Tilak Road, AIR Bypass Road, Lakshmipuram, Leela Mahal and West Church Railway-Under-Bridge. Some residential colonies were also flooded, causing severe hardships to the residents. Rains also affected the Vaikuntam Queue complex at Tirumala.
Renigunta Airport was also inundated, forcing the authorities to divert the flights. Hyderabad-Tirupati Indigo flight was diverted to Bengaluru. The Hyderabad-Tirupati Air India and SpiceJet flights had to return to Hyderabad.
Other parts of Chittoor district also received heavy rainfall. Rivulets, streams, reservoirs and lakes were overflowing in the district.
Authorities have declared a holiday for all educational institutions in Chittoor district today.
(with inputs from IANS)
Ms Kalinga