Bountiful rains under the influence of a low pressure area over the Bay of Bengal brought cheer to farmers in Prakasam district even as Nallamadavagu breached, submerging fields in in and around Cherukuru in Parchur mandal on Friday.
Efforts were made to prevent the water from entering habitations, said Parchur Mandal Revenue Officer K. Rajalakshmi as water surrounded three villages in the mandal.
Efforts were made on a war-footing to plug breaches to swollen Sakivagu near Adusumalle, she said, adding the vehicular traffic which remained disrupted from Parchur to Guntur district on Thursday, had been restored.
Farmers who have taken up cultivation of cotton in about 1,000 acres, began frantic efforts to bail out water from their fields.
The storage in the near-dry Cumbum tank, the second largest tank in Asia, went up to 0.85 tmcft following an inflow of in the wake of the recent rains in the Nallamalla hills. The heavy discharge of 3,000 cusecs from Gundalabrameswaram witnessed on Thrusday came down to 1,500 cusecs facilitating free flow of vehicular traffic on the Achampeta bridge.
Meanwhile, the storage in the Obul Reddy Gundalakamma reservoir, the alternative drinking water source for Ongole city, went up to 2.17 tmcft with an inflow of 500 cusecs. ''The inflow is likely to increase in the next couple of days in view of rain in the catchment area,'' said its Executive Engineer Reddiah.
Situation eases
The sharp showers enabled the drought-prone district to wipe out the rainfall deficit to 3.4 per cent since the onset of southwest monsoon and save standing crops in 1.76 lakh hectares. Farmers will be able complete sowing in another 59,000 hectares during kharif following the wet spell, explained Agriculture Joint Director J. Muralikrishna.
Meanwhile, heavy inflow of 45,600 cusecs into Srisailam reservoir raised hopes among farmers who grow crops in 4.43 lakh acres in the Nagarjunasagar command area in Prakasam district. Farmers who had missed out paddy cultivation last year, hoped to take up cultivation this year as irrigation officials estimated that the Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar reservoirs would get about 75 tmcft following heavy rain in the catchment areas in Maharashtra.
