WARANGAL/HANAMKONDA/BHUPALPALLY/MULUGU: Following heavy rains lashing the district, several roads continued to overflow with flood water, affecting vehicular traffic at several places on Wednesday. Lakes and ponds overflowed and road connectivity was cut to several villages in Hanamkonda, Mahabubabad, Jayashankar Bhupalapally and Warangal districts.
The Katakshapur lake in Athmakur mandal of Hanamkonda district was overflowing disrupting vehicular movement on the National Highway 163 (Hyderbad-Bhupalpatnam) towards Mulugu, Eturunagaram and neighbouring Chhattisgarh State. The water level in the Pakhal tank reached 24 feet as against its full capacity of 30 feet on Wednesday. The tank spread over 5,300 acres can store 3.23 tmc feet water.
Meanwhile, Tribal Welfare Minister Satyavathi Rathod along with Mahbubabad Collector K Shanshanka and Superintendent of Police (SP) Sharat Chandra Pawar, inspected overflowing tanks and streams in the district. She directed the district administration and police to be on high alert and undertake relief operations without delay.
Morancha Vagu overflowed in Ghanpur Mulug and the road connectivity was cut off to Appayapally, Sitarampuram, Kondapuram, and Banglaplle villages due to the overflowing of Morancha stream in Ghanpur-Mulugu. Similarly, the road connectivity was disrupted from Jubilee Nagar to Regonda villages due to the overflowing of the Bhimnagar tank.
The incessant rains brought to a halt the coal production in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district, resulting in a loss of about Rs 16 crore to the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL). With huge inflows into the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP), 75 gates of the Lakshmi Barrage at Medigadda were opened to release water downstream.
Damage to vegetable crops
Leafy vegetables like spinach, coriander, mint, and Swiss chard, in about 100 acres were inundated on Wednesday due to heavy rains since Tuesday night in Fort Warangal. As a result of the damage, prices of leafy vegetables shot up in Warangal, Hanamkonda and Kazipet areas as supplies dwindled.