Bhubaneswar: Norwester that lashed several districts of Odisha in the last couple of days has reportedly damaged crops at several places in Balasore and Sambalpur districts.
Standing crops were reportedly damaged at Khaira block in Balasore district after the unseasonal rain water inundated over hundreds of hectares of farm land, shattering lives of farmers who had taken loan to grow paddy at their farm lands.
As the farmers demanded compensation for their loss, the Tehsildar directed an inquiry into their loss. “The compensations will be provided to the eligible beneficiaries after a detailed joint inquiry by the Revenue Inspector and the Agriculture Department,” said the Tehsildar.
Similarly, ripened paddy on hundreds of hectares of farmland in Sambalpur district was also damaged by the norwester fuelling demand for compensation.
Sources said, the Dalua Paddy that was almost ready for harvest have been damaged by unseasonal rains.
On the other hand, the Meteorological Center in Bhubaneswar has predicted thunderstorm with lightning and gusty surface wind speed reaching up to 40 to 50 kmph and hailstorm at one or two places over the districts of Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj in the next 24 hours. An orange warning was also issued by the Met to those two districts.
As per the mid day bulletin released by the Met center, a Yellow Warning has been issued as thunderstorm with lightning and gusty surface wind speed reaching up to 30-40 kmph is very likely to occur at one or two places over the districts of Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Sundargarh, Deogarh, Angul, Dhenkanal, Gajapati and Kandhamal.