Crops on 67,864 hectares of land damaged due to rains in Andhra

Amaravati, Oct 15 (IANS) The recent downpour due to a deep depression has damaged crops over 67,864 hectares in Andhra Pradesh.Eight districts have suffered the damage. Visakhapatnam 5,435 hectares, East Godavari (29,362), West Godavari (15,926), Krishna (12,466), Guntur (381), YSR Kadapa (2,053), Kurnool (249) and Srikakulam (1,992).The damaged crops include paddy, pulses, sugarcane, maize, raagi, cotton, ramza and tobacco.Horticultural crops spread over 6,229 hectares have also been damaged, affecting vegetables, bananas, papaya, betel vine, yam, turmeric, black gram and sugarcane.At most places, the fields are inundated with water, and as it recedes, crop losses are expected to rise.Prakasam Barrage in Vijayawada received 7.79 lakh cusecs of water, exceeding the estimates of 6 lakh cusecs of floodwater, due to heavy rains in Telangana.The total deaths due to rain-related incidents rose to 11.Due to the rains, 463 boats were lost, 424 in West Godavari and 39 in Visakhapatnam.Officials have also estimated that 900 km of roads were damaged across the state.On Thursday, five more mandals received rainfall more than 75 mm.
--IANS sth/sdr/bg