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Visakhapatnam: Traffic has been closed on the ghat roads in four mandals of Paderu, Araku, Anantagiri and Hukumpeta on Thursday as huge boulders crashed on to the roads due to the incessant rains caused by the severe cyclone Montha.District collector A.S. Dinesh Kumar said boulders fell on the roads in six locations and mudslides in four locations.“Fortunately, landslides did not take place in the villages where people live in mud houses’’ he told this correspondent.He said eight houses were completely damaged and 108 partially due to the rains. But fortunately, there was no loss of life nor injury to any person in the district.The collector said water was still overflowing on the roads in Devipatnam, Addateegela, Hukumpeta and Dumbriguda. But the water began receding as the system had moved to south Chhattisgarh.As per the directions of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, 11 relief camps have been set up and 800 people were shifted to them much before the cyclone Montha made a landfall. Each family has been given `3,000 each and ration was distributed to them free. They started moving back to their villages as the floodwater began receding, the collector said.In order to prevent communicable diseases, the collector said medical camps would be set up soon and the striking doctors who have reported to duty would be visiting relief camps.He said for the safety of people, all the tourist points have been closed. The road leading to Vanjangi waterfall has caved in disrupting the traffic, he added.Local villagers said health services have been affected badly yet appreciated the ambulance services which reached the villages under rain and shifted patients and pregnant women to the various primary health centres and community hospitals.District medical and health officer Dr Krishna Murthy said 23 pregnant women delivered babies under harsh conditions.
