Rains continue to lash Rayalaseema region

ANANTAPUR: Heavy rains continued in all parts of Rayalaseema on Saturday following the timely entry of the Southwest monsoon. Hundreds of check dams and small channels are overflowing, leading to filling of irrigation tanks in many parts of the region.

Rayadurg-Ballari main road is facing a traffic jam as Pulakurthi Channel in D. Hirehal mandal is overflowing.

Further, Vedavati and Hagari rivers are overflowing following incessant rains in upstream Karnataka area. This has caused massive damage to standing cotton crops.

Gummagatta mandal recorded more than 90 mm rainfall followed by 52 mm in Yellanur and 45 mm in Rayadurg. Since Friday, Anantapur district has recorded an average rainfall of 16.2 mm rainfall.

Floods are likely in Anantapur city in view of heavy rains. Anantapur collector Dr Vinod Kumar has inspected low-lying areas. He ordered Anantapur municipal commissioner Megha Swaroop to prepare a contingency plan to avoid untoward damages.

Anantapur Urban MLA Daggubati Prasad met the collector and asked him to initiate steps to clear encroachments from the two major channels of water.

Tungabhadra Board authorities are expecting 172 TMC feet of water following the rains. At present, the TB dam has only 3.94 TMC feet of water with 1,490 cusecs being the inflow.

Anantapur High Level Main Canal superintendent engineer Rajasekhar told DC that tentative dates for releasing water to Right Bank High Level Canal and also TB High Level Canal will be decided soon.

TB Dam, an interstate project, is a major source of drinking water and irrigation for Anantapur and Kurnool districts, apart from parts of Kadapa. Inflows into the dam depend on rains in the upstream parts of Western Ghats.