KURNOOL: Rains threw life out of gear in the district following heavy rains on Sunday. Kodumur was pounded with 120 mm rainfall, followed by Mahanadi which saw 95 mm downpour.
The temple town of Mantralayam and Yemmiganur had many colonies waterlogged and traffic was disrupted for some time.
A lorry carrying gas cylinders was stuck at Kallur. A shepherd Nageswar Rao along with his 70 sheep flock was trapped in the floodwater of Hundri near Remadur village in Kallur mandal. On receiving a rescue call from MRO Kallur, the fire unit of Kurnool led fire officer Prabhakar rushed to the spot. They pressed an IRB boat into service and rescued the shepherd and the animals. District fire officer Sreenivas Reddy said that the Yemmiganur fire unit also rescued 30 farmers who trapped in local Vanka at Nandavaram SC Colony near Yemmiganur town due to heavy floods.
As many as 20 farmers and agricultural laborers were stranded in agricultural lands due to the overflowing of local streams at Aspari, Gonegandla, and Kodumur mandals. They were safely rescued by local police.
The heavy downpour in the early hours of Sunday inundated several low-lying areas across the district. Mantralayam was bore the brunt as it poured down for four hours, due to which Nallavanka Vagu water entered the town. Raghavendra Swamy Mutt and its surrounding colonies including Raghavendra Nagar, Ramachandranagar and Pathuru were totally inundated, and rainwater entered residential houses.
With submergence of roads with floodwater, passerby, devotees and motorists are facing lots of problems, Ramana, a resident of Mantralayam, said. Many drains are unable to withstand the impact of gushing waters.
Floodwater breached several local causeways, snapping road links in at least five places in the district, particularly near Gonegandla. Traffic was seriously disrupted on the way from Kurnool to Adoni and also on Bellary main road for nearly two hours.
As per the rainfall report, the district received an average rainfall of 35.50 millimeters in the last 24 hours. Kodumur received the highest rainfall at 120.4 mm, while Sanjamala mandal saw the lowest rainfall at 3.40 mm.
The administration is keeping a close watch on the situation across the district. District Collector G. Veera Pandian held a virtual conference with the officials concerned and took stock of the situation at the worst-affected areas such as Mantralayam, Kodumuru, Yemmiganur, etc. He ordered to stop movements in the areas where the flood water was flowing over the bridges. He further directed to caution the people in the affected villages and colonies to stay alert.
