It’s monsoon woes for Vizagites in mid-summer

Rain fury: (Clockwise)The inundated road near the Visakhapatnam railway station on Thursday. A KGH staffer clears rainwater from the Bhavnagar Children’s Ward. An RTC staffer helps a passenger get down a bus that got stranded near Convent Junction. Residents remove the debris after wall collapses at Vutagedda.

Rain fury: (Clockwise)The inundated road near the Visakhapatnam railway station on Thursday. A KGH staffer clears rainwater from the Bhavnagar Children’s Ward. An RTC staffer helps a passenger get down a bus that got stranded near Convent Junction. Residents remove the debris after wall collapses at Vutagedda.  

City roads inundated; several wall collapses reported, water enters KGH paediatric ward

Thunderstorm accompanied by gusty winds, lightning and heavy downpour continued to wreck havoc in certain part of the city on Thursday.

Rain water entered houses in some low lying areas such as Kotaveedhi, Old Town, Gnanapuram and parts of Gajuwaka. Rain water swelled on to roads, flooding the roads in many parts of the city, giving a tough time to motorists. It was worst situation for the residents of Gnanapuram area near the city railway station. The roads were inundated as teh commuters waded through knee-deep water.

“It was for the second time in the last three days that our area was in the thick sheet of water that entered our houses. Thanks to the clogged drains,” lamented Solomon Raju, a resident of Gnanapuram.

Patients in for surprise

Not only the roads, the King George Hospital (KGH), the biggest referral hospital in the North Andhra region, was not spared from the fury. Water entered some of the KGH wards including the paediatric unit and its staffers were on their toes to drain out the water.

The patients and the attenders were in for a surprise when the ward got flooded in minutes.

“We had to wade through knee-deep water to reach the paediatric ward and reaching there, we found ankle-deep water in the ward with silt covering the floors,” said Naresh, an attender of a patient.

However, KGH Superintendent Dr. G. Arjuna said that a wall collapse on the east side of the building had the drainage line choked, resulting in the flooding of the ward. “We cleared the water within one hour. There was no material loss or disruption of power,” he said.

Further, a few incidences of wall collapse were reported from Uttagedda, Kirlampudi, Gajuwaka, but sans casualty.

Fishermen still missing

The two fishermen Tedu Parasayya (35) and Tedu Pentayya (45), who went missing since Tuesday were still to be traced, despite efforts from the authorities.

The third missing fisherman, Pola Rao’s body was found on Wednesday.

According to Joint Collector G. Srijana, the aerial search for the missing fishermen could not be taken up on Thursday due to inclement weather by Coast Guard ships. She said that there were no death or injuries reported from the city.

Meanwhile, MP K. Haribabu and Municipal Commissioner M. Hari Narayanan visited the inundated areas at Vootagedda in Ward 19 on Thursday.

The drain discharge was heavy and a part of the port wall also collapsed. Along the course of the storm water drain, big pits were formed resulting in water stagnation. The MP discussed the issues with the civic chief and wanted him to take remedial steps. Mr. Hari Narayanan assured of relief for the people whose belongings were damaged. BJP City President M. Nagendra, State executive member P.V. Narayana Rao, city general secretary A. Kesava Kant and other leaders participated.