The heavy rains that have been lashing the state of Telangana over the last three days have proved to be disastrous to standing crops such as paddy, maize and cotton in the state. Urban Telangana, including capital city Hyderabad, witnessed massive floods resulting in nearly 20 deaths and collapsed buildings. Meanwhile, agricultural land in the rural districts have been massively hit, as standing crops drowned or were damaged due to the severity of the rain.
The unprecedented rains are a bane to cotton farmers, as it reportedly affected over six lakh acres of cotton crops that were almost ready to be plucked. In parts of Karimnagar, over 20,000 acres of paddy crops were affected as they were either submerged in the water or damaged due to the force of the rain. Reports said that districts such as Medak, Sangareddy and Siddipet also saw paddy crop damage.
In Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district, around 45,000 acres of paddy and cotton crops were damaged. Bhadradri Kothagudem district saw around 8,000 acres of cotton crop damage, while Khammam saw 76,000 acres of crop damage. Warangal Urban district witnessed 11,000 acres of damaged cotton and paddy crops; in Warangal Rural district the number was around 61,000 acres, of which over 50,000 acres were cotton alone, reported regional media.
In Nalgonda district, the major cause for damage to standing crops was overflowing water bodies and canals. In Rangareddy district, thousands of acres of paddy as well as vegetable crops were damaged, according to a V6 channel report.
The state government is yet to release an official estimation of the extent of crop damages in Telangana. The unprecedented rain is a result of a deep depression that has formed over the Bay of Bengal, affecting Andhra Pradesh and Telangana the most.
Officials of the Telangana Agriculture Department informed TNM that an official and complete estimation on the extent of crop damage is underway. Meanwhile, a review of the situation in the state is being conducted by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao.