Brief spell of heavy rain throws life out of gear in Vijayawada

An hour of heavy rain left the city roads caused waterlogging, leading to traffic snarls in Vijayawada on Wednesday..
| Photo Credit:
K.V.S. GIRI

After experiencing a hot and sultry day on Tuesday, Vijayawada received a brief spell of heavy rain on Wednesday, leaving city roads waterlogged and bringing the city to a halt.

According to Directorate of Economics and Statistics, the city received around 40 mm rain in the evening. Being peak traffic time, many vehicles were stranded near the Benz Circle for a long time. Commuters, including students, had a tough time getting rides. Due to lack of buses, many students waited for more than two hours in the evening to get home.

Several roads in the city, including the Mahatma Gandhi Road, Polyclinic Road, Nirmala Convent Road, bus stand premises, Road Number 5 were waterlogged, leading to traffic congestions. Many people shared clips of their waterlogged roads and traffic snarls on social media platforms, expressing hopelessness at the situation in the city. .

A student of Amrita Sai Institute of Science and Technology said that it took her an hour to reach Vijayawada from Paritala, and from Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Smriti Vanam in the city to Tadigadapa, which is 7.8 km away, it took her two hours. She added that there were fewer city buses today and some others did not stop at the bus stops.

Meanwhile, a resident of Guru Nanak Colony said that traffic was halted for 40 minutes near Ramesh Hospital Junction and complained about the dysfunctional traffic signals, which only added to the problem.

Vijayawada Municipal Corporation Commissioner Dhyanchandra H.M. visited the waterlogged areas in the city later and directed monsoon response teams to ensure that water accumulated on roads were removed immediately.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has not given any rain forecast for Thursday (October 9) for the city and NTR district. However, thunderstorms and lightning are likely to occur.