Parched Rayalaseema gets bountiful rains

Vijayawada, Sept 1: Strong southwest monsoon resulted in copious rainfall in the last two days in the parched Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh, largely easing the drought situation.

River Krishna and its tributaries are in full flow and for the first time in over a year, the Prakasam Barrage in Vijayawada has been filled to the brim and excess water is now being let out into the downstream. The Dr K L Rao Sagar Pulichintala project, midstream between Prakasam Barrage and Nagarjuna Sagar, has also received good inflows though the Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir is still short of its full level.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, camping in Anantapuramu district to oversee the drought mitigation measures, conducted an aerial survey in the district to inspect the use of rain guns and water sprinkler systems to wet the groundnut crop that faced the threat of drying up in over 15 lakh acres.

Among the four Rayalaseema districts, Kurnool received the highest rainfall of up to 8 cm, while Chittoor, Kadapa and Anantapuramu received 1-7 cm of rain in the last 24 hours, according to official statements. In Vijayawada, water level touched the 12 ft mark, with gross storage of 3.07 tmc ft, at Prakasam Barrage due to large inflows from Munneru rivulet.

The southwest monsoon, which has been active over coastal Andhra Pradesh, caused a good downpour in districts from Srikakulam to Prakasam. However, SPS Nellore and Srikakulam appear to be the worst hit with a deficient rainfall of 43.2 and 25.9 per cent respectively so far this season, the statements said. Prakasam and West Godavari are next on that list while the State overall recorded 8.4 per cent deficit rainfall.

PTI