The hailstorms and unseasonal rain continued to hit parts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for the fourth consecutive day on Tuesday. While it brought relief to the people from scorching heat wave as temperatures dropped considerably, the change in weather has caused havoc to the agriculture and horticulture sectors and shattered the hopes of thousands of farmers in Telangana.
Officials of agriculture department have estimated that the standing crop of paddy, maize and chilly and other varieties on 36000 hectares were damaged in 16 districts. The hail and rains have also caused extensive damage to the mango orchards in the State. Most of the damages were reported from Khammam, Nalgonda, Karimnagar and Rajanna Sricilla districts and neighboring areas. Paddy was the worst affected as the standing crop on 29000 acres was damaged.
At many places the gale winds also uprooted the trees and also caused damages to the power supply lines. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao directed the officials to remain on high alert against recurrence of the hailstorms and rains and enumerate the losses suffered by the farmers.
He spoke to the Chief Secretary SK Joshi about the situation and asked him to prepare the reports so that they could be sent to Centre for seeking assistance and relief.