Farmers at the receiving end as unseasonal rain batters several districts

Unseasonal rains coupled with high velocity winds lashed Khammam and many parts of the district on Thursday bringing solace to people from sweltering heat but adding to the woes of paddy and maize farmers.

A huge quantity of paddy stocks stored at the market yard in Pullaiah Banjar village in Kalluru mandal got drenched due to the untimely showers in the afternoon.

Irate farmers staged a demonstration on the main road in front of the market yard blaming the loss to alleged delay in shifting the stocks as demanded by the situation. Telugu Desam Party MLA from Sattupalli S Venkata Veeraiah visited the yard and interacted with the aggrieved farmers.

Officials of the Revenue and the Civil Supplies Department rushed to the spot to take stock of the devastation caused by the unseasonal showers.

Mr. Veeraiah asked the officials to make the necessary transport arrangements to promptly shift the paddy stocks at the yard and also procure the entire stock of soaked paddy.

Unseasonal rain lashed at Allipuram near Khammam drenching dozens of bags containing sold and unsold maize lying in the open at a yard run by the government agencies concerned, in the village in the afternoon.

Though some of the bags remained unaffected as they were covered with tarpaulins, a substantial quantity of maize stock lying uncovered on the premises of the yard were reportedly damaged, sources said.

Gusty winds swept through the town amid drizzle causing interruption in power supply in several residential colonies under the Khammam municipal corporation limits in the evening.

In Bhadradri-Kothagudem district, unseasonal rains accompanied by high winds wreaked havoc in Bhadrachalam, Dummugudem and several other Agency mandals.

Power supply was disrupted for several hours in Bhadrachalam as strong gales snapped power transmission lines in some parts of the town.

Dark clouds with thunderstorms and high-speed winds wreaked havoc in Nalgonda on Thursday afternoon.

The temperature at the same time on the previous day was 43 degree celsius, and hours before the havoc, the district recorded a maximum temperature of 41 degree celsius.

The most affected were farmers, yet again, who were waiting with their paddy produce at various centres and market yards for procurement.

Interaction with affected farmers at Nalgonda market yard and the nearby Arjalabavi procurement centre showed there was no prior announcement of an extreme weather. Adding to that, due to lack of enough tarpaulin covers vis-a-vis the produce at the centres, paddy got wet and washed away.

Tractors in queues with produce and bags of uncovered and unlifted paddy at the centres was a general scene.

However, officials who swung into action post-damage assured farmers that their produce will be bought by the government as per guidelines. Unconfirmed reports by official sources said about 30% paddy was affected in the centres, and the damage was minimum at the market yards than at the Indira Kanthi Patham centres, they said.

Power outage in most places continued for more than five hours. The Telangana State Development Planning Society later in its weather forecast said the temperature for the next three days would be ‘near normal’, in the range of 39 and 43 degree celsius for maximum and between 26 and 30 degree celsius for minimum.

Heavy gales and rain hit several parts of erstwhile Medak district on Thursday afternoon for about an hour. While Sangareddy and Medak districts witnessed gales with trees and branches falling at some places, Siddipet witnessed sudden downpour. Rain was reported at Nanganoor, Husnabad, Mulugu, Gajwel, Jagadevpur and Siddipet areas. At some places paddy readied by farmers to be shifted to procurement centres were damaged. At Dubbak, heavy rain lashed and paddy stored at market yard has completely soaked in rain.

Unseasonal showers and gales hit many places in the erstwhile Adilabad district on Thursday, especially the eastern parts covering Mancherial and Kumram Bheem Asifabad district, cooling off the torturing day temperatures. Many places in Adilabad and Nirmal districts also became cooler owing to strong winds and cloud cover at some point of time or other during the day.

According to information, Mancherial, Asifabad and Kagaznagar towns received a spell of about 30 minutes of heavy rainfall. Bordering mandals like Bejjur in KB Asifabad were also lashed by a similar spell of rainfall.

Gales and mild showers here and there occurred across the erstwhile undivided district on Thursday since afternoon. As a result, trees and electric poles got uprooted at certain places. Power supply was affected for hours together. Strong winds blew under the impact of low pressure in Bay of Bengal. Paddy transported to purchase centres were soaked in Balkonda. Electric wires got snapped in Nagireddypet mandal.

Moderate rain was recorded in the forest near Cheemanpally village in Sirikonda mandal. Strong winds blew in Tadwai, Lingampet, Jukkal and Banswada. Power supply was interrupted in the district headquarters town due to the gales.