Untimely heavy rains in the middle of a hot summer are feared to have caused extensive damage to crops in several districts of Andhra Pradesh over the last two days.
The meteorological department has forecast that widespread rain or thundershowers are likely due to an upper air cyclonic circulation over the Bay of Bengal in the next 24 hours in Andhra and Rayalaseema regions.
Standing paddy crop suffered extensive damage in East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna and Guntur districts while harvested chilly that was ready for sale got damaged in Khammam district, sources said.
Palvancha in Khammam district recorded 7.6 cm of rain in the last 24 hours while Mylavaram in Krishna district and Bapatla in Guntur district received 6 cm of rain each.
In Krishna district, chilly, maize and mango suffered damage while in districts like Nalgonda, Mahbubnagar, Karimnagar, Warangal and Anantapur, standing Rabi crops were hit.
“The loss could run into several crore rupees. A detailed enumeration of losses will be taken up after the rains abate,” a senior official in the Disaster Management Department said.
Coal production in the opencast mines in the Kothagudem area of Khammam district too was hampered because of rain.
Low-lying areas in several districts were flooded, affecting traffic.
Port town of Kakinada has been receiving a heavy downpour since morning. Heavy rain was also reported from Nellore.