Live: Heavy Rain Causes Floods in Odisha; Thousands Evacuated as Rivers Overflow and Ministers Dispatched

Forty-eight hours of persistent downpour triggered a landslide on the Indrakeeladri hill on Thursday night, sending soil, rocks, and massive boulders onto the Ghat Road in Vijayawada. A potential disaster was averted as the road had already been shut for three days to facilitate pre-Dasara maintenance works, leaving the route empty. District Collector G. Lakshmisha inspected the damaged spot on Friday, ordering the administrative teams to clear the debris immediately. The road will continue to stay closed until technical experts evaluate the stability of the hillside to prevent further rockfall.

Following a prolonged period of dry weather that depleted its storage, the Gambheeram Gedda reservoir in Visakhapatnam has started overflowing on Friday due to the heavy downpours.

Heavy rains lasting two days led to a landslide on Thursday night as boulders, mud, and soil rolled down the Indrakeeladri hill—home to the Kanaka Durga temple—and blocked the Ghat Road in Vijayawada.

A powerful deep depression has battered Odisha, causing massive rainfall exceeding 100 mm in at least 24 sectors. Rising river levels, active landslides, widespread inundation, and damage to housing structures have forced local administrations to suspend school classes across affected regions. Around 10,000 people living in highly vulnerable low-lying and landslide-prone locations within the state's southern and western districts have been moved to 200 functional relief camps, as rivers swell beyond danger marks.

Severe flash floods in rivers and local channels have washed away connecting roads and destroyed fields across northern Andhra Pradesh. With inflows in the Nagavali river projected to touch 60,000 cusecs by Friday afternoon, a high alert was sounded in the districts of Vizianagaram, Srikakulam, and Parvathipuram Manyam. Preliminary reports suggest crop damage spanning more than 10,000 acres, concentrated heavily around the Rajam area. Plantation of bananas and vegetables faced the brunt of the damage in the three districts, with the government planning a comprehensive evaluation once floodwaters recede. Vizianagaram Collector S Ramsundar Reddy is closely tracking the Nagavali flood situation as inflows swell to 60,000 cusecs, initiating evacuations from low-lying areas in Vangara mandal near the Madduvalasa reservoir.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has asked state administrative bodies to efficiently utilize the precipitation brought by the deep depression to fill up all available water storage reservoirs and resources. The IMD confirmed that the deep depression over the Bay of Bengal made landfall along the Andhra coast near Kalingapatnam in Srikakulam district, producing heavy, continuous rainfall over a three-day period. The current wet spell has brought much-needed relief to the state, which had been recording a significant seasonal rainfall deficit.

Under the influence of a deep depression that struck neighboring Andhra Pradesh on Thursday, several districts of Odisha experienced heavy rainfall, prompting the state administration to relocate people residing in vulnerable low-lying and landslide-prone sectors. Fearing severe floods and landslips in southern parts of the state, the government has dispatched two cabinet ministers—Rabi Narayan Naik (Panchayati Raj) to Koraput and Gokulananda Mallik (Fisheries) to Gajapati—to coordinate emergency measures and oversee the safety arrangements.