Nellore: Many villages marooned as Penna gets heavy inflows

Nellore: Many villages close to the River Penna grappled with unprecedented floods due to a heavy rain in the upper catchment areas of Rayalaseema which finally resulted in heavy inflows into the Somasila Reservoir. Even though the officials had warned the people of floodwaters from the reservoir, many villages and habitations in the city witnessed inundation.

Officials say this has been the heavy flood after 1995 where the water release level touched around 4 lakh cusecs of water. Many streams, rivulets, and others joined enroute making the water flow more vulnerable. Now, 2.90 lakh cusecs of water are being released for managing the inflows of 2.65 lakh cusecs from upper catchment areas of Kadapa and Kurnool districts.

At one stage, senior officials felt worried about the safety of villages close to the riverbanks since there is water storage of 74 tmc feet of water in Somasila reservoir. Further, the water body was receiving around 4 lakh cusecs of water from upper streams which made the situation worse. Officials on Thursday took a decision to release water alerting the police, revenue, and others for avoiding unforeseen events. River Penna flows around 130 km in the district till it enters the sea via Anantasagaram, Kaluvoya, Chejarla, Atmakur, Sangam, BR Palem, Nellore rural, Indukurpet, and other mandals.

Swarnamukhi river is in spate and Kokkupadu village in Kota mandal witnessed a huge flood and the local population started evicting the village. Water bodies in the district also filled to their brim as a result of cyclone impact. During landfall of the cyclone, many mandals witnessed more than 20 cm of rainfall.

The majority have already been filled with water due to heavy rains occurred during the second week of November and the cyclone Nivar made the situation worst causing flash floods in many areas. Floodwater entering the famous temple of Talpagiri Ranganatha Swamy is an indication of the intensity of heavy floods and a rare occasion, say local people. Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy conducted an aerial survey in the district and the Minister for IT and Industries Mekapati Goutham Reddy visited Atmakur constituency. Minister for water resources Dr P Anil Kumar stationed here in the city for monitoring the situation. Many roads witnessed roadblocks because of overflowing streams.

In Nellore city, Ahmed Nagar, Parameswari Nagar, Janardhan Reddy Nagar, Bhagat Singh Colony, Jayalalitha Nagar, Manumasiddhi Nagar and many others are witnessing floodwaters where the officials are shifting them to the relief shelters.

Further, the bridge on the National Highway close to Nellore city received damages for one kilometer and the officials resumed vehicle movement at Audisankara Engineering College on the NH-16 at Gudur which had witnessed huge floodwater obstructing the movement of vehicles between Nellore and Chennai.