Heavy rain lashed Prakasam district on Tuesday bringing cheer to farmers, especially in the western parts, reeling under severe drought for five long years as they started preparation of land for the khariff crop.
The downpour left the State highway leading to Srisalam flooded at Thummalabailu. Officials swung into action and cleared the water after a two-hour-long operation.
People reeling under impact of heatwave even during the third week of June heaved a sigh of relief in the district headquarters Ongole, which received sharp showers in the afternoon leaving the low-lying areas under a sheet of water.
Seeds kept ready
Meanwhile, Agriculture Joint Director P.V. Sriramamurthy said the department had positioned 7,000 quintals of subsidised green manure seeds and another 500 quintals of red gram seeds.
“Another 1,000 quintals of red gram seeds will be made availabe to farmers,” he said and asked the farmers to go for grow pulses as inter crop with cotton for better returns.
Several irrigation tanks in Ardhaveedu, Bestavaripeta and Cumbum mandals received good inflows following overnight rain, Cumbum Deputy Executive Engineer M.Venkateswarlu said. As a result, Jampaleru was in spate. The current wet spell was a good sign as irrigation tanks of Naiyunakunta, Mallanna, Thimmanna, Chinnarayudu , Kakarla tank, Pentikulapadu, Balijerigulla tank, Gannivaripalli and Kazipuram were filled to 50 % of their storage capacity so far. “Only when these tanks get filled up, inflows to Cumbam tank, one of the biggest tanks in Asia will start,” he added.
Podili received a maximum rainfall of 51.2 mm in the last 24 hours followed by Karamchedu (41.4mm), J. Pangalur (34.2mm), N.G.Padu (20 mm), Parchur (19.2 mm), Yaddanapudi (16 mm) and Dornala (15.6 mm). The district on an average received 30.3 mm rainfall, a deficit of 38.4% as the arrival of the south west monsoon was delayed by more than a fortnight.
