Having lost crops in over 33,000 hectares to the rain under infulence of Cyclone Nivar, farmers in Nellore district now have their fingers crossed as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast more rainfall in south coastal Andhra Pradesh on Friday owing to cyclonic storm Burevi over the Gulf of Mannar.
The southern parts of the district witnessed light to moderate showers on Thursday. Heavy rainfall is likely to occur at isolated places in the region in the next 24 hours after the weather system crossed the coast, an IMD bulletin said.
As a precaution, the irrigation authorities maintained the storage in Somasila reservoir at 70.98 tmcft when compared to the full level of 78 tmcft by releasing 33,000 cusecs of water downstream. With an inflows of 24,617 cusecs, the water level in the reservoir went up to 326.85 feet on Thursday. Allaying fears of farmers, Somasila Superintending Engineer N.Krishna Rao said the flood situation was well under control as the rains in the catchment areas had abated.
Those living close to the Penna river banks including the residents in the low-lying areas in Nellore town are a worried lot as the Cyclone Nivar left the colonies waterlogged for several days. Meanwhile, the storage in Kandaleru reservoir, which caters to the drinking water needs of Chennai and Tirupati among other cities, stood at 59.85 tmcft leaving a flood cushion of 8.18 tmcft.
The irrigation authorities let out 5,580 cusecs of water to maintain the level at 273.29 ft.
Indukurpet recieved a maximum rainfall of 91.8 mm in the last 24 hours followed by Kovur (90.2 mm), Vidavalur (69.8 mm), Kodavalur (51.2 mm), Nellore (44.6mm), Tada (26.2 mm) and Sullurpeta (25.4 mm).
