Rains, hailstorms kill six, damage crops in Andhra

Hyderabad, April 3 (IANS) Unseasonal rains in parts of Andhra Pradesh during the last three days have claimed six lives and damaged crops over 18,000 hectares, officials said.

Rains, thunderbolts and hailstorm lashed Telangana and Rayalaseema regions. Nizamabad district in Telangana accounted for five deaths while one person died in Medak district in the same region.

Lightning killed three people. Two died in a wall collapse and one was killed by a falling tree.

As many 23 people were also injured in Nizamabad district. About 350 houses were damaged.

T. Radha, commissioner, disaster management, said 26 cattle also perished in the unseasonal rains.

Agriculture crops like paddy and maize were damaged over 17,925 hectares. Horticulture crops like mango and vegetables were damaged over 1,087 hectares.

Normal life was thrown out of gear for the consecutive day in Hyderabad and surrounding areas. Heavy rains accompanied by strong winds lashed several parts of the city, uprooting trees, electricity and communication cables and inundating the roads.

Old city, Koti, Malakpet, Ramnthapur, Habsiguda, Secunderabad and several others areas received heavy rains Wednesday evening. Some areas also witnessed hailstorms.

Many localities plunged into darkness as falling trees disrupted electricity supply. Some vehicles were also damaged due to uprooting of trees.

The unseasonal rains led to huge traffic jams in the busy areas like Ramnthapur, Amberpet, Chaderghat, Imlibun, Abids in the city and Shamshabad, L.B. Nagar and other areas on the outskirts.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.