Southwest monsoon lashes coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema

Amaravati, Sep 14 (IANS) Heavy rainfall have been creating havoc in most places in coastal Andhra Pradesh, Yanam and Rayalaseema for the past two days.A weather system in the Bay of Bengal was causing the rainfall which is expected to continue for two more days. Winds up to a speed of 45-55 km were likely to hit the coastal region."South-west monsoon has been vigorous over coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema," said a Met official.Starting Saturday night, rainfall accompanied with lightning and thunder struck intermittently with heavy downpour. The entire Sunday witnessed intermittent heavy rainfall.Several streams and canals in the state were overflowing with rainwater.Due to heavy rain, water flowed into several houses in east Godavari's Pithapuram district.In Kurnool district, paddy and maize fields were inundated with rain water. P. Gannavaram mandal in east Godavari has registered the highest amount of rainfall at 17.42 cm.As many as 61 mandals in Ananthapuram have witnessed an average rainfall of 2.82 cm. In Kurnool, it rained 3.72 cm on an average.Nearly 100 acres of paddy fields at Golugonda mandal in Visakhapatnam have been completely inundated with rainwater.In Kadapa, 412 hectares of paddy, cotton and other crops have been affected by the rains.
--IANS sth/khz/in