Hyderabad, April 23: Unseasonal rain in the middle of the summer lashed several districts in Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema, and Telangana regions since Thursday leaving farmers worried about crop yields in the rabi season.
While it rained almost throughout the State, East and West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Mahabubnagar, Medak, Karimnagar, Warangal, Khammam, and Nalgonda received heavy showers. In some districts, rain, accompanied by gales and hailstorm, damaged the crop.
Amaravathi in Guntur district recorded highest rainfall of 13.7cm, Mogalturu in West Godavari district 9.7 cm, Bhadrachalam 8 cm, and Mulugu in Warangal district 7 cm. Other areas recorded 3 to 4 cm. The unseasonal rainfall was caused by the formation of upper air trough from Vidharbha to South East Arabian Sea, extending upto 1.5 km above sea level.
Paddy, chillies, and maize crops in Krishna district bore the brunt of the unseasonal rain. Huge stocks of chilli kept in the fields to dry got soaked in Guntur where paddy and cotton crop too suffered damage. Chilli and mango in Khammam, besides paddy crop in Anantapur, were damaged.
In Nalgonda, over 100 farmers waiting at the agricultural market yard to dispose of their paddy for the elusive minimum support price of Rs.1,030 were witness to the soaking of the bags in the heavy rain. An estimated 500 quintals was damaged due to rain.
Commissioner for Disaster Management T. Radha, however, said there were no reports so far of any serious damage to the crop. “The Collectors will do the enumeration and send the reports of crop damage, if any,” he said.
Met officials said another upper cyclone circulation was prevailing over North Coastal Andhra Pradesh. Because of these two systems, Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema will receive “rather heavy” to “heavy” rain at one or two places. Warangal, Khammam, and Karimnagar may also receive heavy rain while light to moderate or thunder showers are expected over remaining districts of Telangana in the next 48 hours.
As a result of the rain, the day temperatures fell by six degrees in Hyderabad. The average temperature in the State would be around 35 degrees Celcius for the next four to five days, Met sources added.
Teleconference
Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy reviewed the situation with officials and district Collectors through a teleconference. He instructed them to send a preliminary report on the damage.
–Agencies