Rains shatters lives of many in Karimnagar

Karimnagar: The rains that have been lashing the erstwhile Karimnagar district for a week stopped on Friday but left behind tragic scenes of damaged crops, houses and roads. A large number of R&B and Panchayat Raj roads have been damaged and traffic is still halted in many places. In Jagtial district, most of the roads were cut and Yasangi paddy in the fields, mills and warehouses got wet.

More than 40,000 acres of paddy and cotton crops were damaged in Peddapalli and Jagtial district. While the flood flow of 10 lakh cusecs continued to the Yellampalli project on Friday, it is noteworthy that after about 20 years, the water is flowing at a height of 14.82 meters above the sea level in Godavari in Peddapalli.

Looking at district wise, 38 roads in Jagtial district have been blocked. Water is flowing on 56 roads on Friday as well. Among the damaged roads are 22 under Panchayat Raj and 16 under R&B.

According to official figures, the crops planted in 22, 992 acres belonging to 12, 588 farmers have been damaged. Thousands of acres of land have been eroded due to floods which created sand dunes. Around 216 transformers are damaged. Although restoration work is underway some villages are still left in the dark.

In the past five years in Peddapalli district, the rainfall during this monsoon has quadrupled. The normal rainfall in the district is 33.15 cm but 63.7 cm rainfall has been recorded within a week.

If we look at the figures up to four years ago, the figures show that the rainfall was less than the normal. In 14 mandals, 659 acres of paddy and 6495 acres of cotton crops have been completely damaged, according to officials. Waterlogged fields are at least estimated to be up to 10, 000 acres.

As Manthani in the same district was surrounded by floodwater, water entered the civil supply warehouses in that area. Officials say that 380 metric tons of rice worth about Rs 2 crores and 5 lakh old gunny bags worth Rs 1 crore damaged.

In Rajanna-Sircilla district officials found that 334 houses in 13 mandals were partially damaged and a compensation of Rs.11.63 lakh will be provided to all these houses. Of 2 lakh quintals of Yasangi grain 98 percent of grain is safe in warehouses. 406 houses were partially damaged in Karimnagar district. The main roads were cut off and traffic stopped. 8 persons have died. Out of 42 resettlement centers opened in the district, 14 centers have evacuated persons. Officials estimated that there may be at least 95000 quintals of grain in open space damaged.

The residents of Manthani, who remained under water blockade for more than 24 hours, suffered a lot. TVs and refrigerators were completely damaged, rice and other essential commodities were rendered useless.

It seems that this damage was caused by the fact that the officials did not estimate the water coming from the project in the upper areas and failed to take relief measures. Some of the flood victims told The Hans India that they may not get fresh water until the flood water recedes.

Pothireddy Sudarshan, a farmer from Vallabhipur, Huzurabad region, told The Hans India that he had planted five acres of crops, out of which two and a half acres of cotton had been lost to the rain, and the investment of around one lakh rupees was wasted, and now he has to plant another crop.