Heavy rainfall in Bidar on Friday night further crushed the hopes of farmers who were praying for recovery of crops damaged by floods in September.

In just one night , the district received 64.5 mm of rainfall, as against the monthly average of 90.2 mm for October.

This is very high for one day. This can further damage crops like red gram, said K. Ziaullah, Joint Director of Agriculture. If the crop suffers water logging for 3-4 days, it will suffer physiological death.

Low to moderate rain is expected in the next two days. Even light showers will have to be considered excess as they will add to the flood discharge. Water will not percolate as it has breached the optimum level, he said.

According to preliminary surveys by agriculture department, Soya has suffered nearly 100 per cent loss due to the dense showers in September. The district received over 1200 mm of rain in the first nine months, which is beyond the annual average of 900 mm.

This caused widespread loss including breach of six tanks and loss of crop on over 1.6 lakh hectares. Rain related incidents caused the death of five persons, including a six-month-old child. As many as 19 bridges were submerged, cutting of around 120 villages from the main land.

District administration officials had submitted a memorandum seeking input subsidy of Rs. 102 crore for crop loss affected farmers. Chief Minister Siddharamaiah who visited rain-hit areas, announced an interim relief of Rs. 50 crore.