Heavy Rains in AP:Update/Road Blockade

[deepakchiniwal]

People heading from Belgaum towards Hubli and thereafter, be prepared for a heavy to very heavy traffic jams. There was a reported Gas Lorry overturned and leakage.
Rain in Dharwar/Hubli regions is reduced and water receding.

Stay put and watch out tomorrows position. There is more water that is been released in dams due to heavy inflow and expected to submerge few more villages.

[ubsmart]

I travelled via Khammam while returning to Hyderabad from Rajahmundry. THought the drive will be smooth based on the feedback from this forum. But, to my shock, the road is badly in need of repair/patch work as there are good enough pot holes which send jitters down your spine. We cannot travel at even speen even for good 2 KMs on this stretch. The only good part of the entire journey was between Khammam and Suryapet.
To those who are planning to travel this route, be careful as the Nagarjuna Sanal canal in between Khammam and Suryapet is almost flowing to the brim. Good to avoid atleast for next 2 days if the situation does not improve.

[anainar]

Originally Posted by deepakchiniwal

People heading from Belgaum towards Hubli and thereafter, be prepared for a heavy to very heavy traffic jams. There was a reported Gas Lorry overturned and leakage.
Rain in Dharwar/Hubli regions is reduced and water receding.

Stay put and watch out tomorrows position. There is more water that is been released in dams due to heavy inflow and expected to submerge few more villages.

Does this mean NH4 is also affected? I did not see any report saying NH4 stretch is submerged or traffic hold ups.

Am planning to travel this Thursday to Pune from Bangalore through NH4 and I hope the situation improves before that.

Nainar

[deepakchiniwal]

NH4 is not submerged, but prepared for horrific traffic jams before Dharwar and pathetic roads between Ranebennur and Davengeree.

[prince_pervez]

Originally Posted by anainar

Am planning to travel this Thursday to Pune from Bangalore through NH4 and I hope the situation improves before that.

Relax, Mom just came through NH4 today morning. She started at 4:30 PM yesterday, and reached on time today. I asked about any hold ups, she said not at all. There was a hold up at Nelmangala she said, and I shrugged my shoulders.

Originally Posted by deepakchiniwal

NH4 is not submerged, but prepared for horrific traffic jams before Dharwar and pathetic roads between Ranebennur and Davengeree.

I think the situation is under control now.

[deepakchiniwal]

oh good to hear that!

[ranjitp1]

The Hyderabad-Chennai highway via Vijaywada has been breached.Reports suggest that road links between Vijayawada & Hyderabad are now cut off.The gates @ Prakasam Barrage have now been reported to be open.

Chennai-Hyd travellers:would be best to stay put and not travel as even Nagarjuna Sagar route has breaches at several points.

NH18 has also been breached at Nandyal,which means traffic between Kurnool-Kadapa-Chitoor would be affected.

Originally Posted by anainar

Does this mean NH4 is also affected? I did not see any report saying NH4 stretch is submerged or traffic hold ups.

Am planning to travel this Thursday to Pune from Bangalore through NH4 and I hope the situation improves before that.

Nainar

This post has the latest updates from a person who traversed NH4 http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...pur-goa-7.html (Mumbai-Pune-Kolhapur-Goa)

Note from the Team-BHP Support Team: Please use the "edit" button if posting within 20 minutes of the first post, instead of creating another back-to-back post.

Also use "Multi Quote" option for quoting Multiple posts.

[9tMax]

Team,
I was going back from Bangalore to Hyd on Friday. Slightly after Gooty, in a place called Peapully we were stopped by the police and was told to go back as the Kurnool - Hyd NH-7 was blocked. Since then we are hopelessly stuck in Anantapur and not being able to find a way to go back to Hyderabad. I enquired in the local RTC depot. They say that buses for Hyderabad has started since yesterday via some detour - the route is Anantapur - Tadipatri - Porumamila - Markapur - Macherla - N. Sagar - Hyd. But they are not being able to tell anything about the road condition. Today morning also I enquired from them but could not get any more info. And considering that places like Nandyal, Vijaywada, Guntur and all are getting flooded now I am not being able to take the risk to start on that route.
Which route do I take back to Hyd?
NH-7 certainly is the most preferred option, but there is no clear information about the extent of damage and how many days it will take to be restored for traffic?
Any info on alternate route or road conditions?
Thanx.

[muralisk]

Here is my story. My kiddo was in Hyderabad for her Dasera vacation. I was supposed to get her back in time for school re-opening on 05-Oct-09. I planned to drive to Hyderabad on 02-Oct-09 and get back on 04-Oct-09. However, I kept getting calls from friends and family that Kurnool is fully submerged in water including the highway. At this point, I called both APSRTC and Sharma Travels around 10 pm and they said there is no problem with highway and that their buses did make it through Kurnool and Mehboobnagar.

So, I decided to travel and on 02-Oct-09, I started at 4:45 am and all along it was raining. Once I reached Kurnool, the town is under water and as I made it to the Tungabhadra bridge, there was a huge traffic jam. People came in hoards to see the swollen river. However, there was no problem for the vehicles to pass. Next, it was same situation at Krishna river bridge. However, there was water on one side of the road (Bangalore to Hyderabad side of the road). The highway officials were trying to stop and they had diverted the traffic on to the oncoming lane for a short distance. From there on, there was no problem.

On the other side, all the Telugu news channels did proclaim that both these roads are in water and the road connecting Tungabhadra bridge is washed away. This is not true. In fact, the road caved in only that night or early morning on 03-Oct-09.

Once in Hyderabad and with news channels dolling out rubbish of their own and not a single fact about the situation, I had decided to come via Vijayawada - Tirupati to Bangalore. As planned, I had started from Hyderabad on 04-Oct-09 and set out towards Vijayawada. There was one diversion just after suryapet as the Sagar Left cannel was overflowing. Took the detour towards khammam and joined back NH-9 at Kodad. At this time, I got over 5 calls from my cousin and other relatives about water logging on Vijayawada highway near Ibrahimpatanam. I did not believe this and decided to proceed towards Vijayawada and I did see part of Ibrahimpatanam was in water, but there was no water on the road. From the road, the water was at least 30 feet away, when I passed it around 10:00 am. I believe towards the late night, it was submerged as there was greater discharge or continuous discharge of water from Nagarjunasagar.

This is unprecedented flooding situation, but the local TV channels literally made mockery of journalism and by 03-Oct-09 evening, they were into selling mode with xyz exclusive water mark on the visuals that they were telecasting.

Shame of these scavengers.

[muralisk]

Originally Posted by 9tMax

Any info on alternate route or road conditions? Thanx.

I would suggest that you take Bangalore - Tirupati - Vijayawada - Khammam - Hyderabad route. Check Google maps and it would give you great options. I did the same. I came on this route yesterday, but it was in the morning and as I had already written, I did hear that there was water logging at Ibrahimpatanam. Once you get over this point, then you need to by-pass Kodad and Suryapet as the Sagar Left Cannel is over flowing with water.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by 9tMax

Team,
I was going back from Bangalore to Hyd on Friday. Slightly after Gooty, in a place called Peapully we were stopped by the police and was told to go back as the Kurnool - Hyd NH-7 was blocked. Since then we are hopelessly stuck in Anantapur and not being able to find a way to go back to Hyderabad. I enquired in the local RTC depot. They say that buses for Hyderabad has started since yesterday via some detour - the route is Anantapur - Tadipatri - Porumamila - Markapur - Macherla - N. Sagar - Hyd. But they are not being able to tell anything about the road condition. Today morning also I enquired from them but could not get any more info. And considering that places like Nandyal, Vijaywada, Guntur and all are getting flooded now I am not being able to take the risk to start on that route.
Which route do I take back to Hyd?
NH-7 certainly is the most preferred option, but there is no clear information about the extent of damage and how many days it will take to be restored for traffic?
Any info on alternate route or road conditions?
Thanx.

Unfortunately as of now,I dont think there is an option to come to Hyd.

The option for you would be to tailgate a HYD bound RTC bus,road conditions are not likely to be great considering the pounding the areas have taken.Shall update in case I get to know something.

There was an update on another thread that somebody did a Bapatla-Blr drive and found the roads to be ok.but that update is 2days old.

Another suggestion being thrown up on the threads is a route via NH5,Anantpur-Tadipatri-Prodattur-NH5 near Ongole and then back to Miriyalguda & hyd.The only risk in this route is that the major part of the route is via state road,so conditions would definitely be suspect.

Yet another discussion is on A'pur-Kadapa-Renigunta-NH5 @ Nayudupeta-Ongole-get off NH5-Piddugurella-Miriyalguda.

[ranjitp1]

2 lanes of NH7 are expected to open by Wednesday 7th Oct.4 lanes by Friday 9th Oct as per news reports,

Pvt operators are now taking the route:HYD-NELLORE-Tirupati-Chittoor-Blr.

[9tMax]

Thanks a lot ranjit & Murali for your suggestions and info.

Just reached Hyd a few hours back via the diverted RTC bus route.

Since we became desperate to reach Hyd after waiting for more than 3 days in Anantapur, we started today morning at 06:30 from Anantapur and reached Hyd at 21:15 Hrs after covering a distance of 592 km.

The route is like this:
Anantapur - Tadipatri - Muddanur - Yeraguntla - Proddatur - Maidukuru - Porumamila - Giddalur - Thaticherla - Bestavarapeta - Markapur - Thokapalli - Macherla - Nagarjunsagar - Hyd.

The road condition was overall motorable. Neither good, nor pathetic, but mostly bad, with only a couple of stretches in between which can be called good, till you reach sagar. But thankfully there was no flooding anywhere. Specially the last 60-70 km to Macherla was very narrow road where you have to get down on the shoulder to pass any oncoming vehicle and the shoulder is already in horrible shape with deep trenches formed by the trucks and buses. This stretch should ideally be done in daylight, otherwise you are surely going to scrap your underbody, unless you are in an SUV.

Only gains on this route were the nice, smooth and scenic stretch through a reserve forest near porumamila and the sight of N'Sagar dam releasing water in full force.

[ranjitp1]

NH7 HYD-BLR-HYD has finally been open for traffic after being closed for traffic for close to 6days.So finally the chaos ends.

[manojgautham]

We were planning to attend a colleague's wedding at Khammam and then go to Hyderebad. I was thinking of this route earlier.

Bangalore > Kurnool > Mahbubnagar > Khammam

Return

Hyderabad > Kurnool > Bangalore

Please let me know the condition of these roads. Are they motorable now, after the floods?