Paddy crop has been damaged in more than 1.5 lakh acres in Godavari districts due to the heavy rain and floods caused by cyclone Michaung this week, it is officially estimated.

The state officials estimated preliminary losses and said the final assessment would be made after the waters receded from the agriculture fields.

West Godavari collector Prashanthi said the crop has been damaged in 23,661 hectares and there was damage to various infrastructures too. The total loss could be `188 crore.

She said 113 villages in 19 mandals of the district have been affected and four municipalities and 19 villages were inundated, causing misery to 4,090 people. A total of 26 houses have been totally damaged while 79 houses were temporarily damaged. Water in 17 houses stagnated for more than 24 hours. A loss of `14 lakh was incurred to damaged houses.

Ten people were injured and 32 animal huts damaged. The estimated loss on this count was of `3.2 lakh. 

"It is estimated that `200 crore worth of roads belonging to the Roads and Building department, the Panchayat Raj etc have been damaged. Some 5.4km length of open drains and underground drains, 702 street lights etc worth `8.53 crore have been damaged. 

Three 33kv feeder lines, 15 11kv feeder lines, two 33/11 kv substations, 22 of the 11kv poles that cost `13 lakh have been damaged.

Eluru collector Prasanna Venkatesh said crop has been lodged in 33,724 acres and the rain inundated in 24,575 acres out of which 7,458 acres were under paddy crop. The government has purchased 1,05,948 metric tonnes of paddy so far, out of which 28,324 metric tonnes was purchased offline.

The collector said that the power was disrupted in 80 villages and the supply has been restored in 79 villages. Roads have been damaged on a length of 479km in the district. 

In Konaseema district, the paddy crop has been inundated in 12,00 acres while 110 houses have been damaged. Ten trees were uprooted on the roads and 64 electrical poles fell down. A total of 126 electrical poles including substations have been damaged.

Enumeration is being done to ascertain the losses of various sectors due to the cyclone.

Source - https://www.deccanchronicle.com