VIZIANAGARAM/PARVATHIPURAM-MANYAM : Incessant rain over the past 72 hours and flash floods from the upper catchment areas of Odisha have caused irrigation projects in Vizianagaram and Parvathipuram-Manyam districts to fill rapidly, prompting officials to release water from the Thotapalli barrage and sound a high alert in river basins and low-lying areas.
Water levels in the Thotapalli project, Tatipudi reservoir, Jhanjhavathi Rubber Dam, Andra reservoir, Vottigedda reservoir, Madduvalasa reservoir and other projects have reached their storage capacities. The Nagavali river is swelling due to flash floods from its upper catchment areas in Odisha.
The water level in SGL Thotapalli barrage reached 103.76 metres against its full reservoir level of 105 metres, with an inflow of 23,250 cusecs.
Irrigation officials were releasing 23,050 cusecs through the spillway, 50 cusecs through the old Right Main Canal and 150 cusecs through the old Left Main Canal. Revenue officials sounded a high alert in river basins and low-lying areas, warning of possible flash floods triggered by heavy rain in Odisha. Vizianagaram and Manyam are agriculture-based districts in AP.
Though districts have irrigation projects such as Thotapalli, Madduvalasa, Jhanjhavathi Rubber Dam, Tatipudi, Vottigedda and Narayanapuram, farmers in tail-end regions depend on rainfall for cultivation.
However, the farmers of both districts are in distress with deficit rainfall due to El Niño. The districts recorded a 37% rainfall deficit during kharif season, leaving farmers facing water scarcity for paddy cultivation. At a time when farmers in tail-end project areas and mandals facing deficient rainfall were losing hope of taking up paddy cultivation, heavy rain lashed districts for over past three days due to deep depression in the Bay of Bengal.
SP Madhav Reddy urged the public not to cross swelling streams or approach precarious waterlogged structures.
