Rivers flow above danger level in Chittoor
Swarnamuki river overflowing at Thanapalli road in Tirupati
Tirupati: The Chittoor district witnessed heavy rains accompanied with strong gales under the influence of cyclone Nivar, which crossed the district late on Thursday night.
Two persons lost their lives in floodwaters at Ralla Madugu canal and Irala channel stream. The victims have been identified as Prasad, a farmer in Ralla Madugu and Vinaya Reddy of Palakuru village in Puthalapattu mandal. The power supply was affected in the district due to outages.
At 4 am, the power supply was restored by the SPDCL officials. Across the district in many villages the thatched huts were washed away due to heavy rains. Officials are assessing that the damages to property and crops may cross Rs 500 crore in Tirupati division.
MLAs Madhusudhan Reddy (Srikalahasti) and Babu (Puthalapattu) consoled the kin of deceased family members and assured them to arrange compensation from the government.
In another incident, a six-member family was stuck in the middle of Pincha river stream from Thursday night in Pileru mandal. After receiving the information, Madanapalle DSP Ravi Manohar Achari and his team reached the spot and rescued the family by using a crane. In the operation, Chittoor SP S Senthil Kumar was involved directly along with police and SDRF personnel.
Another family consisting of seven members was also stuck in flood flow at Sivagiri Colony of Kandadu hamlet of Yerpedu mandal from Friday morning.
Yerpedu police and SDPO Additional SP with the assistance of Fire department personnel rescued the family with a speed boat.
Meanwhile the water resource management officials lifted crest gates of all the reservoirs and released floodwaters to downstream to prevent further damage. In this connection, revenue officials sounded alert to the villagers concerned who were living in riverbanks.
Across the district all the channels, irrigation tanks and reservoirs received excess inflows from upper catchment areas. Swarna Mukhi, Pincha, Bahuda and other seasonal rivers were flowing at dangerous level. Authorities placed police personnel for monitoring the situation at rivers banks and tank bunds.