Heavy rain, under the influence of an upper trough from southern Tamil Nadu to Western Madhya Pradesh, continued to wreak havoc in Telangana and some parts of Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday.
Even as the rain over the last three days claimed seven lives and destroyed crops over an area of more than 1,00,000 hectares, continued rain lashed Hyderabad and other districts on Tuesday morning. Two more people died due to electrocution in Miyapur area of Hyderabad.
A snapped electricity line fell in a drain and two municipal workers came in touch with it. The death toll in the two States over the last four days has gone up to 22. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao announced an exgratia of Rs5,00,000 to every bereaved family.
Citizens woke up to a thundering storm and powerful winds disrupting the power supply and water logged streets at busy junctions hit the normal life. Several low-lying areas of the city were also inundated.
Meteorological officials said, “The unseasonal rain in the month of April has broken all the records. Hyderabad and its surrounding areas recorded a rainfall of 6 cms in the last 24 hours. Nalgonda also recorded rainfall of more than 6 cms. Ramgundeam received 2 cms rainfall while Karimnagar, Warangal, Ranga Reddy recorded 1 cms rainfall each.
In Andhra Pradesh, Tirupati, Kakinada and Nellore recorded 2 cms of rainfall. Hailstorm in parts of Kurnool district caused heavy damages. There was a white sheet of hails at Aspari. Their was a sharp decline in the temperature in both the States making it the coolest April in decades.
Hyderabad Meteorological Centre issued a warning of more rain over the next 48 hours under the influence of the winds sweeping from lakshadweep in Arbian sea and the Bay of Bengal. There could be isolated to heavy rainfall in Telangana, Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra Pradesh in the next 48 hours.
“The upper air trough is running from southern Tamil Nadu to the western parts of Madhya Pradesh resulting in a slight low pressure system”, said YK Reddy, director in-charge, Hyderabad Met office.
Another weather expert Narasimha Rao said the winds from two opposite directions of Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal have resulted in formation of Cumulonimbus system over Telangana that resulted in the heavy rain.
“Two upper troughs have been formed at the same time. While one is from lakshadweep in Arabian sea to Karnataka, Marhatwada and Gujrat, second upper trough is from Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to Andhra, Telangana and Rayalaseema to Tamil Nadu,” Rao said explaining the reasons for the unabated heavy rains.
This comes on the back of hailstorms of last four days, which destroyed the crops of cotton, rice, maize, vegetables and mangoes. The rains have shattered the hopes of farmers as standing crops and harvested agriculture products have been destroyed. In Karimnagar alone, crops over an area of 22,000 hectares have been destroyed.
The State Government has ordered the officials to undertake an assessment of the losses of crop and other properties.