The district administration heaved a sigh of relief on Monday with the downpour coming to a halt in neighbouring Odisha, where both the Vamsadhara and the Nagavali rivers received huge inflows. The floods in the Nagavali had a cascading effect both on Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts. With the release of water from Madduvalasa and Narayanapur, the Nagavali is in full flow at the new bridge in Srikakulam town.
The Irrigation officials hope that the inflows are sufficient and meet the agricultural needs of the district. The district administration has advanced the kharif operations this year and released water early from the Madduvalasa and Narayanpur reservoirs. It has helped the irrigation officials store the excess water received in the current season.
Collector K.Dhananjaya Reddy directed the Irrigation and Agriculture officials to take steps for the optimum utilisation of water. He has asked them to chalk out a plan to fill the tanks through the Nagavali canals.
Water released
With the directive of the Collector, the Irrigation officials released 1.238 tmcft of water into canals from the Vamsadhara river. Around 14.212 tmcft of water has been released into the sea.
Normalcy was restored all along the Vamsadhara river stretch on Tuesday with inflows easing a bit.
The officials said the inflows would come down in a couple of days as rains stopped in catchment areas. They were in constant touch with their counterparts in Odisha to assess the water flow and alert people in low-lying areas.
However, the control room would continue to function from Collector’s office for the next couple of days, said a senior official.