Anantapur: At least 18 villages of Rajampeta revenue division under Somasila reservoir in Kadapa district are threatened with submergence. With increased flow into the Somasila reservoir due to incessant rains, the water level touched 62 tmc ft and low lying villages are under threat of inundation.
Kadapa collector K.V. Ra-mana has directed mandal-level officials to evacuate villages suspecting possibiliti-es of submergence if inflows continue into the reservoir. Atlur, Vemaluru, Muthukur, Jonnavaram and Varikuntla of Atlur mandal, Penna Perur, Darjipalle, Gollapalle and Bandarupalle of Siddav-atam mandal and Surepalle, Brahmanapalle, Gattupalle of Gopavaram mandal and Pothipi, Chapavaripalle, Konapuram, Kommur and Chukkayapalle in Nandalur mandal were identified for possible inundation.
A team of officials led by joint collector, RDO and special officer of mandal inspected the villages and cautioned the villagers about possible inundation of low lying areas. Rajampeta Revenue Divisional Officer V. Prabhakar Pillai said a few villages, located below the contour level were in serious threat of submergence. "We have alerted all the villages to evacuate from low lying areas."
Meanwhile, irrigation authorities opened five gates of Annamayya project and released about 42 cusecs of water downstream. As a result, Cherru River was flowing heavily. An average of 1.62 tmc ft of water is stored at Annamayya reservoir. Nandalur mandal headquarters was still in a bad situation as Sardar Vallabh-ai Patel Nagar and Gana-pathi Nagar are inundated. Further, heavy rains affected normalcy in many parts of Kadapa district as rains continued since Sunday.
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