Rain weakens, heavy damage in AP's Chittoor and coastal areas of Nellore
TIRUPATI: With rains easing off with the weakening of severe depression in Bay of Bengal, reports of heavy damage are emerging from Chittoor and coastal mandals of Nellore district, Sullurpeta in particular, which bore the maximum brunt of rains.
K.V.B. Puram in Chittoor district received the highest rainfall of 18 cm in the last 36 hours, while over 15 mandals recorded more than 10 cm of rainfall. Following incessant rains, Swarnamukhi river flowing between Tiruchanoor-Srikalahasti disrupted vehicular traffic. Srikalahasti-Papanaid-upeta bridge overflowed with Swarnamukhi floodwaters.
Three members of a family, Sankaraiah, his wife Koteswaramma and their son, who were crossing the overflowing floodwaters lost balance and got washed away near Yerpedu. But locals, who noticed them, rushed and saved them.
In a statement on Friday, Chittoor collector M. Hari Narayanan said district administration has shifted nearly 1,315 people to rehabilitation camps. “As many as 26 relief camps are being run at Tirupati, Varadaiahpalem, Chittoor, Renigunta, Satya-vedu, Srikalahasti and Chittoor mandals. Two State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and one National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams are on standby for handling rescue and relief operations,” the collector said.
Incessant rains wreaked havoc at Tirumala hills. Trees got uprooted and boulders rolled down the ghat road. TTD closed the first and second ghat roads from 8 p.m. on Friday till 4 a.m. on Saturday.
Nellore district too witnessed heavy flooding, particularly in Sullurpeta mandal. A textile factory near Sullurpeta got inundated with floodwaters from River Kalangi. About 20 workers got stranded inside the factory. Police and NDRF teams rushed and rescued all of them.
Marine police rescued 12 fishermen whose boat started drifting after its engine malfunctioned. Vehicular traffic along Venkatagiri-Naidupeta highway has got disrupted.
Somasila Project received huge inflows from upstream. At present, the level of water in the reservoir is 72.167 tmc ft against the full capacity of 77.988 tmc ft.
