Cyclone ‘Nilam’, which has come at the very end of the kharif season, caught up with farmers of Krishna district, who went for crop late and were lucky to miss the wrath of the monsoon.
‘Nilam’ has caught the farmers by surprise, as the damaging cyclones come towards the middle or end of November.
‘Nilam’ came down heavily on the upland areas, leading to submersion of cotton in 25,000 hectates (62,000 acres) in mandals like G. Konduru, Gampalagudem, Tiruvuru, Nandigama, Veerulapadu, Kanchikacherla, Mylavaram, Jaggiaiahpeta, Vatsavai, and Penuganchiprolu.
Vissannapet, which usually receives ‘normal’ rainfall of 5 cm in November, received 28 cm on Friday alone.
Similarly, Chatrai mandal received 24 cm, G. Kondur 23.9 cm, Ibrahimpatnam 20.7 cm, Mylavaram 20.3 cm, Pamarru 19.7 cm, Kruthivenu 16.4 cm, Challapalle 15.7 cm, Movva 15.5 cm, and Thotlavaluru 15.2 cm. on the day.
Though rain was comparatively less in delta mandals, 20,000 hectares (49,420 acres) of standing paddy crop has been submerged in Gudur, Bantumilli, Movva, Nandiwada, Gudlavalleru, Pamarru, Movva, and Thotlavalleru.
Deputy Director Agriculture Balu Naik told The Hindu that standing crop was affected in 24 of the 50 mandals in the district according to preliminary reports.
Paddy in about 100 hectares (250 acres) in Vissannapeta and Reddigudem mandals that was in the seeding stage also submerged. This would lead to discolouration of the grain, he said.
