River Akeru overflowing at Tirthala in Khammam Rural mandal on Tuesday.
Khammam: Streams and tanks were overflowing in erstwhile Khammam district following moderate to very heavy rainfall in the last 24 hours.
A rainfall of 11.2 cm was recorded in Kusumanchi mandal, 12.4 cm in Bonakal and 10.8 cm in Khammam Rural mandal. 11 mandals received heavy rain while eight mandals received moderate rain in the district. The flood reached the main road at Tirthala due to the rise of the flood level in river Akeru in Khammam Rural mandal resulting in the disruption of vehicular traffic between Tirthala, Mangalagudem and other villages.
A cow was washed away in Akeru while it was crossing the overflowing Tirthala bridge. Traffic between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana was stopped because of the overflowing Katteleru stream in AP.
In Kothagudem, vehicular traffic came to a standstill between Yellandu and Kothagudem for some time as a tree fell on the main road near Tekulapally. Flood water was reaching Kinnerasani reservoir at Paloncha due to heavy rainfall. Officials announced that at 10pm on Tuesday two gates of the reservoir would be lifted to release 8,000 cusecs of excess water downstream. They warned the residents in the villages downstream area to be alert.
District Collector Dr Priyanka Ala advised the public and the district officials to be alert as in view of heavy rain forecast for the district for next three days. Village, mandal and district level officials have been ordered to be available at their workplaces.
She cautioned people not to cross the overflowing streams and transportation has to be stopped on overflowing bridges. For emergency services NDRF teams were available and the public should call the control rooms in case of any emergency, the Collector added.
As many as 10 mandals in the district received rather heavy rain while moderate rain was recorded in 12 mandals. Coal production in SCCL’s opencast mines in Kothagudem, Yellandu and Manugur was affected due to rain.