WARANGAL / BHUPALPALLY / KARIMNAGAR / SIDDIPET / NALGONDA / MAHBUBNAGAR/ KHAMMAM: The torrential downpour that hit the State has not only caused damage to human life and property, but to crops as well. The continuous rain has wreaked havoc in hundreds of acres of paddy, cotton, green gram, red gram, black gram, papaya, banana, guava, castor, groundnut, red chilli and other vegetable fields.
According to the preliminary report on the crop damage, paddy fields across 37,300 acres in Warangal Urban, 72,000 acres across Warangal Rural, and groundnut fields across 5,700 acres were affected. In Mulugu, paddy fields across 9,200 acres, cotton across 920 acres, and red chilli across 200 acres were affected. In Jayashankar Bhupalpally, paddy fields across 17,849 acres and cotton across 10,045 acres were affected.
In Karimnagar, around 18,527 acres of paddy and cotton crop were submerged in the floodwaters. District Agriculture Officer V Sridhar told Express that the submerged cotton crop could be totally damaged, but the paddy could still be cultivated once the water receded. Similarly, crops were also damaged in Rajanna-Sircilla, Peddapalli and Jagtial district too. In Huzurabad and Shankarapatnam mandls, two houses collapsed. No casualties were reported. In Peddapalli district, coal production was disrupted due to heavy rains at open cast mines. Meanwhile, Health Minister Eatala Rajender and District Collector K Shashanka inspected the flood-affected areas in Huzurabad Assembly constituency.
Tanks and canals overflowed in Siddipet, as a result of which standing crops under them were submerged. According to officials, crops like paddy, green gram, red gram, vegetables, cotton and others were damaged in 3,00,000 acres of land. Officials state that a total of 300 houses have been damaged in the district.
In Nalgonda, including 1,537 acres of paddy fields, various other crops were also damaged in about 3,865 acres of land in 152 villages. Around 140 houses were also damaged across the district. In Mahbubnagar, over 237 acres of paddy, 190 acres of cotton and 130 acres of castor and red gram were inundated, according to district Agriculture Department officials. Over 23,000 acres of cotton, paddy, green gram, black gram, papaya, banana and guava were damaged in Khammam and Bhadradri Kothagudem districts. According to Kothagudem District Collector MV Reddy, a total of 19 roads and buildings were damaged in the district.