Heavy Rains Damage Crops Worth Crores

Standing crops worth several crores of rupees were damaged due to the heavy rains that lashed the state during the last few days.

According to Agriculture Minister Usha Rani, in coastal Andhra alone, standing crops on 90,000 hectares spread across 13 districts were damaged.

Guntur and West Godavari were the most affected districts. In Guntur, cotton, paddy and other crops were damaged in 16,800 hectares, while in West Godavari, standing crops in about 15,000 hectares were submerged.

Paddy crop spread over 19,000 hectares, cotton crop in 17,883 hectares and other crops were damaged by the recent rainfall in the state, Usha Rani said.

Meanwhile, in a cyclone warning bulletin, the Visakhapatnam Met Office predicted heavy rains in coastal Andhra and Telangana regions during the next 24 hours.

Under the cyclonic impact, heavy rainfall was recorded at various places across the coastal districts. Neighbouring Chennai recorded a rainfall of 14 cms, Kaleshwaram 12 cm, Chintapally 10 cm, Narsipatnam 9 cm, Kalingapatnam, Rajahmundry and S Kota 8 cm each, and rainfall of 7 cm each was recorded at Chodavaram, Polavaram and Manchiryala. (INN)