Heavy rains damage paddy, cotton in Karimnagar district

Karimnagar: Several low-lying areas and villages present on the outskirts of Karimnagar municipal corporation were inundated and several roads in many areas were logged with drainage water with heavy rains that lashed the united Karimnagar district for the past three days.

Standing paddy crops along with cotton and corn were damaged on a large scale in the district while several water bodies were overflowing with huge inflows with heavy downpour for the last two days.

With drainage water overflowing, roads were logged at Stamps and Registration Office, turning it into an island with rainwater surrounding the office. The R&B roads were flooded with rainwater and caused inconvenience to regular commuters. People faced problems with water entering their houses in many colonies present under KMC limits.

The Disaster Response Teams strove hard to remove water logging which witnessed in many colonies. With heavy rains, the district recorded an average rainfall of 59 mm on Saturday night. Ganneruvaram mandal recorded 121.3 mm of rainfall in the district.

Paddy crops in Durshed, Mughdampur, Cherlabhutkar and Chamanpalli villages was damaged while in Nagunur and Gopalapuram villages, corn and cotton crops were partially damaged. Meanwhile, as inflows of water increased due to heavy rains into Mid Manair and Lower Manair dams, the officials lifted gates and released water downstream to prevent untoward incidents.

Several colonies in Karimnagar city like Ramnagar, Vidyanagar, Godamgadda, Housing Board colony, Shiva Talkies areas were flooded with rainwater and houses in those colonies were inundated. City mayor Y Sunil Rao accompanied by Municipal Commissioner V Kranthi visited the flood affected areas in Bhagath Nagar, Ramnagar, Malkapur, Jyothinagar and other localities and asked the officials to take immediate steps to ensure smooth flow of drains.

Several projects present under the prestigious Kaleshwaram project are filled with heavy inflows of water with heavy rains upstream. The officials are releasing the water downstream by lifting the gates. Officials were directed to be alert and to cancel their leaves in view of heavy rains that are witnessed for the past few days in the united Karimnagar district and asked to monitor the situations regularly.