Nellore, Prakasam and Tirupati districts have been experiencing rains under the influence of cyclonic storm Mandous, which is likely to cross the coast between north Tamilnadu and south coastal Andhra Pradesh during Friday night. As the cyclonic storm is expected to make a landfall on south coastal AP, district administrations of Nellore, Prakasam and Tirupati districts as well as Annamaiah, Chittore and Kadapa have been put on alert.
Coastal parts of Nellore, Prakasam and Tirupati districts have been witnessing light to moderate rains from Thursday night itself, which turned into heavy rainfall starting Friday night. On Friday, Kota mandal in Tirupati district recorded a heavy rainfall of 103.2 mm from 8.30 am to 7 pm. During the same period, the district received 53.8 mm average rainfall. Gudur division received 72.6 mm rainfall, while Sullurpet, Srikalahasti and Tirupati divisions recorded 65.6 mm, 42.8 mm and 34.9 mm rainfall respectively.
Airline services have been affected due to unfavorable weather conditions on Friday. SpiceJet flights from Pune to Tirupati and Tirupati to Pune have been cancelled. Indigo aircraft from Visakhapatnam to Tirupati returned to Visakhapatnam without landing. Similarly, SpiceJet and Indigo flights due to arrive in Tirupati from Hyderabad too returned to Hyderabad without landing.
Tirupati district collector asked the whole official machinery to get ready as rains are likely to progress till Sunday. Prakasam district collector announced establishment of a special control room with telephone numbers 1077 and 08592-241400.