MULUGU: An 185-member team of Forest department staff is collecting details of the trees damaged in the Eturnagaram Wildlife Sanctuary in Mulugu due to a freak weather incident on August 31.
Since the catastrophe that flattened thousands some estimates put the figure at around one lakh of trees, including some rare varieties, the forest staff has been busy trying to enumerate the extent of damage and possibly find the reason.
The forest department is collecting details of the uprooted trees using drones, from Medaram to Pasara and Medaram to Tadvai in the forest area of Tadvai mandal in the district.
Mulugu District Forest Officer Rahul Jadhav Yadav told TNIE: “We have deployed forest staff from the nine ranges in Mulugu. The staff are collecting details of the damaged trees and marking each trunk with paint. It will take seven to eight days to complete the enumeration and only then we would know the exact number of trees that have been damaged in the sanctuary.”
He said that the Central team visited the Forest department office in Hyderabad and collected details from the higher officials. The officials gave a presentation on the damage to the trees in Eturnagaram Wildlife Sanctuary.
“After their inquiry, we got to know the reason for the freak weather incident. As per directions of higher officials, the entire staff is working on a war footing to identify the damaged trees, measuring them and marking them with paint,” said Yadav.