The southwest monsoon and floods that hit 11 districts of the State between August 1 and 10 has damaged about 66,000 hectares agricultural and horticultural crops in Malnad and coastal regions.

The districts that have been worst affected by floods are Kodagu, Belagavi, Chikkamagaluru, Dakshina Kannada, Dharwad, Hassan, Mysuru, Uttara Kannada, Chamarajanagar, Udupi, and Haveri. No damage to crops has been reported from Shivamogga district.

A total of 31,637.2 hectares of agricultural crops and 34,621.26 hectares of horticultural crops were damaged in the excessive rainfall, sources in the Revenue Department said. The State government has sought aid of ₹4,000 crore from the Centre for providing relief to all those affected in the rain.

Last year too, the State had received the highest rain during August 3 to 10. Rain caused more damage to crops and infrastructure in 23 districts of the State last year.

A total of 2,831 and 63 houses were partially and fully damaged, respectively. The administration of districts have established 87 relief camps and 1,993 people have been shifted to relief camps. In Kodagu district, which witnessed many landslips, 693 people have been shifted to 10 relief camps, the department said.

Meanwhile, KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar has urged Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa to take an all-party delegation to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to seek a financial package to work towards a long-standing solution and solving the woes of the people of Kodagu, which has been facing natural disaster for the last three years in a row.

Sowing increases

The good rainfall has resulted in increase in the sowing of kharif crops in the State. Against the normal coverage of 46.11 lakh hectares, the actual coverage was 51.27 lakh hectares as on July 31, 2020. Last year’s crop coverage during the same period was 44.99 lakh hectares.