Unseasonal rains leave seven dead in AP

Hyderabad, Seven persons have been killed and 58 injured in incidents related to unseasonal rains which also left agriculture and horticulture crops in nearly 70,000 hectares damaged in Andhra Pradesh, authorities said on Wednesday.

Warangal bore the brunt accounting for four deaths and Anantapur and Nizamabad two and one, respectively, as hailstorms were reported daily from different parts of the state since last Saturday.

All 10 districts in Telangana, Anantapur and Kurnool districts in Rayalaseema, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, West Godavari and Guntur in Coastal Andhra received rains today.

All the injured were in Warangal district, where 800 tons of chillies were damaged in a drying yard.

As many as 374 houses were damaged in Medak, Adilabad, Anantapur and Kurnool districts. Agriculture crops on 57,217 hectares were affected, the majority being paddy (25,922 Ha) and maize (17,405).

Horticulture crops on 12,701 Ha were damaged (mango on 11,007 Ha), according to official figures released this evening.

The maximum agriculture area damage was reported in Karimnagar with 23,980 Ha, followed by Warangal (14,279 Ha) and Nizamabad 12,303 Ha.

Meanwhile, Governor ESL Narasimhan, who is in Delhi on a two-day visit, discussed with the Chief Secretary PK Mohanty on phone about the crop loss due to heavy rains for the past two days and enquired about the relief measures taken up for farming community.

He also directed Mohanty to submit an assessment report on the loss of various crops, asked him to review the situation with the agriculture department and district collectors of the affected districts.

Narasimhan also directed them to take up immediate possible relief measures to help the farmers,according to a Raj Bhavan press communiqué.