Two electrocuted, Visakhapatnam waterlogged as deep depression crosses Andhra coast after two days of rain

Two days of rain in north Andhra left Visakhapatnam’s roads waterlogged and 48 trees down on Thursday (September 24, 2026), killed two women in Anakapalli district and swelled the Vamsadhara and the Nagavali in Srikakulam. The deep depression over the Bay of Bengal crossed the coast near Kalingapatnam between 11 p.m. on Wednesday and 1 a.m. on Thursday, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

In the 24 hours to 8.30 a.m. on Wednesday, every one of the district’s 104 automatic weather stations recorded rain, and 65 of them crossed 64.5 mm, the IMD’s mark for heavy rain, according to real-time data from the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Andhra Pradesh (DESAP). The Police Training Centre in Visakhapatnam Rural mandal recorded the most, 92 mm.

24 hours to 8.30 a.m. on Wednesday, automatic weather stations by mandal.

Source:DESAP

Wednesday morning brought a lull, and no gauge in the district recorded more than 11 mm. From the evening the rain came back harder and kept on until daybreak. Between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., Seethammadhara and Visakhapatnam Rural mandals saw about 170 mm each, and Gopalapatnam and Mulagada about 160 mm each, according to rainfall data.

Drains and canals spilled over across the city. Water stood on the Sagar Nagar-Rushikonda stretch, on Port Road and on the road between Sheela Nagar and Tunglam, and it gathered in Gajuwaka, MVP Colony, Akkayyapalem and other localities. People on the roads late at night struggled to get through.

At Kommadi, water rushing down a gedda brought down the boundary wall of the Racon Towers apartment complex, and Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) officials moved the residents out. Two more boundary walls fell, at Madhurawada and Yeduruvanipalem, and a landslip at the Sitakonda Viewpoint sent rocks onto Beach Road and blocked it.

A landslip at Sitakonda near Jodugullapalem in Visakhapatnam after the heavy overnight rain on Thursday.
| Photo Credit:
V. Raju

In Hanumanthawaka, water pooled at the Police Grounds and then ran into the houses nearby. Run-off from the hill flooded homes in Sujathanagar, a gedda overflowed into the Housing Board Colony at Pedagantyada, and drains backed up into houses in Sector V of MVP Colony.

GVMC teams cut up and cleared the fallen trees. The district administration brought together the GVMC, the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), the police, the Fire Services and the power distribution company for rescue and relief work.

Rivers rise in Srikakulam and Vizianagaram

Rain over their catchments sent heavy inflows into the Nagavali, Vamsadhara, Suvarnamukhi, Jhanjavathi and Vegavathi, and irrigation officials issued the first flood warning for the Vamsadhara and the Nagavali, Srikakulam Collector Swapnil Dinakar Pundkar said. He said the situation was under control.

“We will effectively handle any eventuality as officials of all departments are working in tandem. NDRF and SDRF teams were kept ready at sensitive places to take up relief measures. People living in low-lying areas are being shifted to safe places,” Mr. Pundkar told The Hindu.

Vizianagaram Collector S. Ramsundar Reddy reviews the situation at the Collector’s office late on Wednesday, hours before the deep depression crossed the coast
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Srikakulam had taken the worst of the rain even before the system crossed. All seven readings above 115 mm in the State in the 24 hours to 8.30 a.m. on Wednesday came from the district, the highest 143 mm at Palasa, DES data show.

24 hours to 8.30 a.m. on Wednesday; The highest readings in the State.

Source: DESAP.

In Vizianagaram, Collector S. Ramsundar Reddy toured Bhogapuram, Pusapatirega and other areas along the coast. River levels would be checked every hour, he said, and people in low-lying areas would be moved to relief camps where needed.

Parvathipuram Manyam district opened control rooms in every mandal, and schools and colleges were closed in all three districts. In Manyam the rain was still falling on Thursday morning: Chilakalapalle in Balijipeta mandal, upstream on the rivers, recorded 94.75 mm between 8.30 a.m. and 10 a.m., according to DES data.

Two electrocuted in Anakapalli district

At K. Velam in Nathavaram mandal of Anakapalli district, continuous rain loosened the plaster on the verandah roof of a house on Thursday morning. Rongala Janaki, 28, received a shock from a galvanised iron wire there. Her mother, Gompa Manga, 55, reached out to save her and was electrocuted too, and both died on the spot. Janaki’s husband, Rongala Nagaraju, 32, was hurt trying to pull the wire away and is being treated at the Narsipatnam Area Hospital

Ministers’ flight diverted

The bad weather also stopped an Air India Express flight from Vijayawada landing at Bhogapuram late on Wednesday night. On board were Agriculture Minister K. Atchannaidu and MSME Minister Kondapalli Srinivas, on their way to review rain preparations in north Andhra. The aircraft circled near the airport and was sent on to Nagpur, where it landed at 11.42 p.m. Everyone on board was safe.

Red alert for six districts

The system crept towards the coast at about 3 kmph over the six hours before it crossed, and came ashore just southwest of Kalingapatnam carrying winds of 55 to 65 kmph that gusted to 75 kmph. By 5.30 a.m. on Thursday it lay about 50 km inland, west of Kalingapatnam and 80 km north-north-east of Visakhapatnam.

The IMD expects it to hold its strength for about 12 more hours while it moves north-west over land, and then to weaken slowly over the following day. North Andhra is under an orange alert for Thursday: heavy to very heavy rain is likely in Parvathipuram Manyam and Alluri Sitharama Raju districts, heavy rain in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam and Anakapalli, and winds of 50 to 60 kmph.

Published – September 24, 2026 02:03 pm IST