A fresh alert was issued as the eastern mandals of the district-Satyavedu, BN Kandriga, and Varadaiahpalem- received a downpour on Sunday, while the rest of Chittoor district also witnessed moderate spell of rain, followed by drizzling.
Rainfall was registered in all 66 mandals in the district, which recorded 653.4 mm rainfall in total. While the highest rainfall was recorded at Satyavedu(57mm), the lowest was recorded in Baireddipalle mandal(0.8mm).
Heavy rainfall alert for the next two days prompted District Collector M. Hari Narayanan to visit the Araniyar project near Pitchatur and the Kalangi dam in KVB Puram as a precautionary measure. It may be remembered that Kalangi dam’s crest gates were washed away in November 2015 when the Roanu cyclone had wreaked havoc in Chittoor district.
The Collector instructed the irrigation, revenue and police officials to monitor the water levels in the two reservoirs by deploying field staff in shifts and initiating steps to discharge the floodwaters downstream. People in villages downstream of Aruna river were asked to stay away from the river bed and were cautioned against crossing the causeways.
Superintending Engineer (Irrigation) Vijay Kumar Reddy told The Hindu that of the 7,500 tanks in Chittoor district, nearly 80% of them had reached cent percent water levels.
Total damages
“Damage was reported in 550 areas, including breaches and washing away of bunds. An estimated amount of ₹170 crore for permanent repairs and ₹10 crore for temporary works are required. All the reservoirs are under constant surveillance,” the official said.
In Chittoor, Municipal Commissioner P. Viswanath visited areas along the Neeva river and sought the field staff to be alert in the coming two days.
In Madanapalle, the Bahuda river that showed its fury on November 13 had turned placid in the last two days. The municipal officials said that floods to the Bahuda river would depend on the inflows from the upper reaches in Karnataka. Following a fresh rain alert, police teams were posted at causeways vulnerable to overflowing in the division. In Kuppam, it was a heavy drizzle on Sunday afternoon.
Forest Range Officer (Satyavedu) J. Prasada Rao said that due to a downpour in the area from Saturday night, the public was prevented from moving towards the waterfalls in the forest areas.
