Landslide near Kailasagiri triggers boulders onto the road in Vizag

Panic ensued on Friday when boulders crashed down as the result of a landslide near Kailasagiri in Vizag. Jamming the road at the Tenneti Park stretch on the Beach Road, the boulders caused an interruption to the traffic flow along the route.

The soil erosion on the hill, owing to the heavy rains in Vizag over the past few days, is likely to have caused the landslide in the area. While a few rocks, which were relatively small in size, slid down the hill earlier, the boulders on Friday came crashing down from a height of 10-15 meters. However, with the boulders rolling down onto the road during the early hours of Friday, when there wasn’t much vehicular traffic, no injuries or casualties have been reported.

Clearing the boulders off the road, the concerned officials had their task cut out in imposing restrictions and diverting traffic through alternate routes. While some rocks were cleared off by JCBs, the larger ones had to be fractured into smaller fragments before getting rid of them.

With the incident throwing light on the risks of landslides in the hilly regions of Vizag, questions have been raised on the safety measures in place. The hills adjoining the highways in the city have been guarded by retaining walls while a few other vulnerable areas remain unsafe for the residents and commuters. With the rains threatening to dampen the soil, thereby triggering similar landslides, employment of preventive measures is likely to form one of the top priorities of the authorities in the city.