People in the low-lying areas in several villages of the district were moved to safer places as the river Penna was in spate on Sunday.
A huge 1.30 lakh cusecs of water was let out from the Somasila reservoir which was filled to the brim, inundating several villages in the 130-km stretch downstream of the river. Going on a dingy, District Collector K.V.N. Chakradhar Babu oversaw the relief operations by members of the State Disaster Response Force(SDRF) in worst-affected Veerlagudipadu village, near Sangam, which was surrounded by flood waters. About 50 stranded persons were rescued by SDRF personnel from among other places Pullaneellapalli and Mamuduru in Chejerla mandal.
Irrigation Minister P. Anil Kumar Yadav reviewed the flood situation as denizens in Nellore city close to the Penna river including Porlakatta, Venkateswarapuram, Islampet, Janardhan Reddy Colony and Jayalalitha Nagar had a harrowing time. Flood waters entered hundreds of houses in the low-lying areas in the city. Municipal Commissioner K. Dinesh Kumar oversaw the evacuation of people from vulnerable areas.
The present inflow of 1.15 lakh cusecs of water to the Somasila reservoir will continue in the next four days as the Penna and its tributary Kundu were in spate, according to Somasila Superintending Engineer N. Krishna Rao. The level was maintained at 329 ft after the storage in the reservoir reached the maximum of 78 tmcft.
Kandleru storage
Meanwhile, the storage in the Kandleru reservoir in Rapur mandal, which cater to the drinking water needs of, among other places, Chennai and Tirupati, rose to 40.19 tmcft following an inflow of 10,512 cusecs. The discharge was maintained at 1,750 cusecs. The reservoir still had a flood cushion of 18 tmcft of water.