Cyclone Mandous brought heavy gales and downpour in several parts of the Chittoor district, uprooting electrical poles and trees during the last 24 hours ending Saturday evening. With the prediction of heavy rain till Sunday afternoon, the district administration has been on alert, deploying personnel at all irrigation tanks, which are receiving considerable inflows.
The district received a cumulative rainfall of 2,000.6 mm between 8 a.m. on Friday till 2 p.m. on Saturday, with a concentration in Nagari, Vijayapuram, S.R. Puram, Nindra, and Karveti Nagaram mandals, where considerable damage was reported to the paddy fields.
Rehabilitation centres were set up in these mandals accommodating 328 people from the low-lying colonies. A culvert at Deenabandupuram of Palamasamudram mandal was damaged due to rains, and officials took steps to repair it.
Collector M. Hari Narayanan, along with a team of officials, conducted inspections at the residential areas in the low-lying areas along the Neeva river under municipal corporation limits. The officials of hte SPDCL told him that 58 electrical poles were uprooted in the district.
Joint Collector S. Venkateshwar said the field staff on the rain alert duties were told to continue guard for the next 24 hours. He said that the rivers of Koundinya, Bahuda, and Gargeya in the district were in spate, while police and revenue teams were deployed at the village tanks and causeways vulnerable to breaches and overflowing. The officials said that a special guard was mounted at the Krishnapuram reservoir near Karveti Nagaram. While its FRL level is 213 metres, the present level reached 210.5 metres following heavy inflows since Friday evening.
The mandals of Railway Kodur, Obulavaripalle, and Rajampeta in Annamayya district. bore the brunt of cyclone Mandous.
While the Rajampeta division witnessed a rainfall of 347 mm during the last 24 hours, it was 103.2 mm in Rayachoti division, followed by 96.4 mm in the Madanapalle division.
Traffic hit
Traffic on the National Highway came to a grinding halt between Railway Kodur and Balapalle as rainwater from the nearby hillocks overflowed on the roads. Revenue and police officials had a tough time clearing the traffic after clearing the waterlogging. A big stretch of paddy fields was reported submerged in Rajampeta mandal.
The district administration has mounted surveillance at the three irrigation projects of Bahuda in Nimmanapalle mandal of the Madanapalle division, and Veligallu and Jhari Kona projects in the Rayachoti division. Normal life in villages along the Pullamgeru rivulet in Pullampeta mandal of Rajampeta division remained affected as it was in spate since Friday evening.
Water levels in all three projects are brimming to the maximum levels. The Jhari Kona project’s present level is put at 347. 03 meters as against its full storage level of 347 meters. The water level at Veligallu stood at 419.8 meters on Saturday evening, as against its FRL of 420 meters. The Bahuda project’s present level was at 2014.55 feet, as against its FRL of 2015.01 ft.
