Crops damaged as rain continues in Saurashtra and Kutch

“We have asked farmers not to bring their harvests to the market until further instructions and therefore there were no arrivals on the yard today,” Arvind Tagadiya, chairman of Jasdan APMC, told The Indian Express.

Hailstorms ravaged agricultural crops in Rajkot, Amreli, Junagadh, Botad, Morbi, Bhavnagar and Jamnagar late Sunday. The storms continued on Monday as overcast skies gave way to hailstorms and rain.

With Surendranagar also getting showers on Monday, eight out of 11 districts in Saurashtra region experienced unseasonal showers.

Rain continued in Kutch also with Rapar taluka in the eastern part of that district reporting rain Monday evening.

The unseasonal rain comes as farmers are in the midst of harvesting their wheat, gram, coriander seeds and cumin seeds. Crops left for sun-drying on farms were drenched, leading to quality concerns.

In March, rain is extremely rare in Gujarat but the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said the unseasonal showers are result of a western disturbance. IMD’s meteorological centre in Ahmedabad has forecast that the rain would continue till Wednesday.

Meanwhile, in Surat, unseasonal showers brought major relief from scorching heat with minimum temperature plummeting to 25.8 degrees Celsius. The district experienced wind of speed 20 to 25 kilometre per hour, while 2 mm rainfall was recorded. The weather department has forecast rain till March 10 in parts of South Gujarat.

Surat Municipal Corporation Chief fire officer Basant Pareek said, “There are 10 incidents of trees uprooting reported from different areas. One tree caught fire due to lightning but no injury was reported.”