Irrigation tanks filling up fast in Vellore, Tiruvannamalai dists

Of the 519 irrigation tanks under the Public Works Department’s (PWD) control in Vellore, Ranipet and Tirupattur districts, 12 have filled up while another 3 have 91% water, 1 has 80% of its capacity filled up, another 3 have 70% supply, 15 have 50% supply, and 396 tanks have 1% supply while the remaining tanks are still dry, officials revealed.

Also, the Sathanur dam level is inching up to its full tank level (FTL) of 119 feet. The level on Tuesday stood at 95 feet. The Kuppanatham dam in the same district has 34 feet of water against the FTL of 59.4 feet, the Miruganda Nadhi reservoir has 12.4 feet water against the FTL of 62 feet and the 15-year-old, shutter damaged Shenbagathoppu dam in Tiruvannamalai district has 47.7 feet storage against the FTL of 62.3 feet.

Similarly, the Andiappanur dam in Tirupattur district now has its storage level at 19.3 feet against the FTL of 26.7 feet, the Rajathoppu dam has 15.7 feet storage against the FTL of 24.5 feet, and the Mordana dam in Vellore district has 8.20 feet in storage against its FTL of 37.7 feet.

With Tiruvannamalai district receiving copious rain compared to Vellore district, it resulted in the PWD irrigation tank at Meesanallur near Vandavasi breaching its bund and flooding around 300 acres of standing paddy crop.

Though about seven houses were reported to have been damaged in the rain spell near Arakkonam in Ranipet district, no casualties-save for one in Tiruvannamalai-were reported in the four districts.

According to sources, Rajadurai (23) of Pudupalayam near Chengam in Tiruvannamalai district was killed on the spot when a wall, weakened by the recent rain spell, collapsed on him on Tuesday.