Paddy in 1000's of acres under water after breach in irrigation canal

TIRUCHY: The Kannaru irrigation canal, which became weak due to the continuous rains on Tuesday, suffered a breach and the gushing water submerged paddy in several thousands of acres.

Sources said that Kumbakonam region, which experienced heavy rains for the second consecutive day on Tuesday, received the maximum rainfall of 101 mm in Thanjavur district, while Tiruvidaimarudhur, Neivasal and Kurungulam also received moderate downpour.

The continuous heavy rains had weakened several irrigation canals across Thanjavur district and the Kannaru, which flows along Orathanadu, Malaiyur, Keezhaiyur and Kulamangalam villages, had breached on Tuesday morning. As a result water flowing through the canal entered fields and submerged ready for harvest samba crops in around 1,000 acres.

Similarly, storm water drains in Ponnappur village breached and paddy in around 500 acres were submerged.

“If the water takes more than 10 days to drain, the damage will be heavier and there may be no hope to save those damaged crops,” said Sankaramurthy, a farmer from Ponnappur, whose field was submerged. He urged the district administration to depute officials to assess the damage and sanction adequate compensation to affected farmers.

In neighbouring Tiruvarur district, paddy in over 20,000 acres at Nannilam, Mannargudi and Tiruthuraipoondi continued to remain under water due to rains in the past couple of days.