ANANTAPUR: About 30 passengers of an RTC bus were rescued by villagers when the bus was stranded in floodwaters at Donekal channel in Vidapnakal mandal on Monday.
The Donekal channel located on NH between Bellary and Guntakal was the main road route in the region. Heavy rains in the Uravakonda area resulted in overflowing of the canal and the main road was submerged in floodwater.
An APSRTC bus between Bellary-Guntakal with 30 passengers heading for Bellary was caught in the floods and the driver was unable to have it cross the road. The bus got stopped in the middle of the overflowing water.
Local villagers helped the stranded passengers. They tied a tractor to the RTC bus and pulled it out from the floodwater. All the passengers were rescued safely.
Flooding in the Donekal canal is frequently posing problems for vehicles even in normal rains. However, incessant rains led to inundation of the main road.
In addition, the Ramasagaram canal in Beluguppa mandal, Gangavaram, was flooded. The Beluguppa Thanda was overflowing and floodwaters inundated the low-lying areas. At Ramasagaram, vehicles were not allowed to ply.
Sources said heavy rains lashed Uravakonda, Kalyandurg and Rayadurgam areas. More than 2500 hens perished at a poultry farm in Rayadurgam area after rain water submerged the farm.
The only irrigation project, the Bharani Thippa in Rayadurgam area, received heavy flows from Hagari river. The project gross storage capacity was 2tmc-ft and that was now maintained at 1.862tmc-ft. The project received 4052 cusecs of inflows and discharged 4760 cusecs by lifting seven gates to allow the flow towards the downstream.
