ANANTAPUR. Anantapur: Heavy rains continued to lash all parts of Rayalaseema on Saturday following the timely entry of the southwest monsoon. Hundreds of check dams and small channels have overflowed, filling up irrigation tanks in many parts of the region. The overflowing of Pulkurthi channel in D. Hirehal mandal has led to traffic jam on the Raidurg-Ballari main road. Besides, Vedavathi and Hagari rivers are in spate following incessant rains in the upper reaches of Karnataka. This has caused heavy damage to standing cotton crops. Gummagatta mandal recorded over 90 mm of rain, followed by Yellanur at 52 mm and Raidurg at 45 mm. Anantapur district has recorded an average of 16.2 mm of rain since Friday. There is a possibility of flooding in Anantapur city due to heavy rains. Anantapur Collector Dr. Vinod Kumar has inspected the low-lying areas. He has ordered Anantapur Municipal Commissioner Megha Swaroop to prepare a contingency plan to avoid untoward losses. Anantapur Urban MLA Daggubati Prasad met the Collector and asked him to take steps to remove encroachments from the two major water channels.
Tungabhadra Board officials expect 172 TMC feet of water to flow in after the rains. Currently, the TB Dam has only 3.94 TMC feet of water, with 1,490 cusecs of water coming in.Anantapur High Level Main Canal Superintendent Engineer Rajasekhar told the DC that the likely dates for releasing water into the Right Bank High Level Canal and TB High Level Canal would be decided soon.
The TB Dam, an inter-state project, is a major source of drinking water and irrigation for Anantapur and Kurnool districts besides parts of Kadapa. The inflow of water into the dam depends on rainfall in the upper parts of the Western Ghats.
