Heavy rain batters Chittoor; high alert along Neeva river bank

Bridge on the Chittoor-Bengaluru national highway washed away

District collector PS Pradyumna inspecting the NTR Jalasayam in Chittoor on Thursday.

Chittoor municipal corporation limits and surrounding mandals of Tavanampalle and Irala received heavy rain during the last 24 hours, resulting in copious inflows into Neeva river.

The NTR Jalasayam, the prime source of drinking water for Chittoor, which depends on the Neeva course, is almost full and the officials are expected to lift the gates by Friday morning. The reservoir was on the verge of totally getting dried up last week.

District Collector P.S. Pradyumna, Joint Collector P.S. Girisha and Revenue Divisional Officer (Chittoor) D. Kodandarami Reddy inspected the rain-affected areas in the corporation limits.

The bridge on the rivulet at Gandlakottur village on the Chittoor-Bengaluru national highway was washed away with heavy inflows in the Neeva, following downpour in Gudiyattam and Paradarami areas in Tamil Nadu.

The road point on the outskirts of Chittoor suffered soil erosion in the early hours. With traffic on the busy national highway getting affected for a couple of hours, officials diverted traffic through Tirupati and Yadamarri bypass roads.

Mr. Reddy told

The Hindu that over 300 houses in Kattamanchi, Thotapalem and Santhapeta localities in Chittoor were identified as vulnerable to flooding as most of them had allegedly encroached the Neeva riverbed. “We are expecting heavy rains in the coming one week, and the inflows into the river from Gudiyattam and Paradarami is projecting an alarming situation.

The Collector has instructed the revenue officials at the village and mandal levels to immediately sensitise people of vulnerable areas, and shift them to rehabilitation camps,” he said.

Puttur mandal at the eastern side received 27 mm rainfall on Thursday morning, followed by constant drizzle in the neighbouring Karveti Nagaram, Nagari and Vedurukuppam mandals. No rainfall was reported in Nindra and Nagari mandals. “We are alert to any eventuality in the eastern mandals of Puttur and Nagari, keeping in view the November 2015 rains which devastated several villages, and inundated low-lying areas. Surveillance is mounted in all the vulnerable habitations,” Mr. Reddy said.

Meanwhile, sporadic rain was reported in Kuppam division on Thursday. The region received heavy downpour on Wednesday, flooding many roads besides paralysing traffic on the Madanapalle-Krishnagiri NH, forcing the officials to divert traffic on the vital road.

Various mandals in Madanapalle division received light to moderate rain since Thursday afternoon. Sudden gush of rainwater into the Gargeya river near Somala resulted in the washing away of a causeway on Tirupati-Madanapalle road.