Rain, hailstorms to continue for next 24 hours around Nashik

NASHIK: Unexpected rain and hailstorms lashed the outskirts of the city and neighbouring talukas of Kalwan, Niphad and Surgana on Tuesday evening for the second time this rabi season causing heavy losses to the farmers. The met department has predicted that similar weather conditions will prevail for the next 24 hours.
The rain and hailstorms continued for 20 minutes to 2 hours in different parts of the district wrecking havoc on the rabi crop.
Parts of seven talukas of Nashik district received 188mm of rain and hailstorms on Tuesday evening damaging the standing crop on a large area of farms.
Parts of Masapre, Tankswad, Karanji, Kolgaon, Khedlejunge in Niphad, Borgaon Pimpri, Hivargaon, Kepa nagar and Komalwad in Sinnar witnessed heavy showers and hailstorms late on Tuesday evening. Dalwat, Kavi from Kalwanm Bramhanpade, Nandin and neighbouring villages from Baglan and Haste Dumala and adjoining areas of Dindori also experienced similar weather conditions.
Rahul Kukarni, a farmer from Malegaon, said that the rain and hailstorms began at 7.30pm and continued for about 20 minutes. The showers were not as severe as experienced in November and December last year but the standing crop has been damaged.
"Parts of Dalwat circle in Kalwan taluka and the several villages in eastern side of Sinnar taluka received the unexpected rain for the second consecutive year wiping off the standing crop in the fields," a senior official from the district administration said.
Kalwan tehsildar Anil Pure said that preliminary estimates indicate that 2,150 hectares of farms belonging to 4,195 farmers in 62 villages have been affected by the rain and hailstorm. "The primary information says 2,150 hectares of land with standing crop has been damaged of which 1,304 hectares had onion cultivation. The figures may vary after panchanamas are conducted practically. It will take a week to ascertain the exact extent of damage to the crop," he said.
Shankar Patil, resident of Dalwat village, said that he had lost the onion crop on the one hectare of land owned by him. "The government has not yet given us any compensation for the losses that we incurred after the hailstorms last year. This time again we tried out best for the food produce but the rain has wiped them out," he added.
Seven villages including Vadangli, Khadangli, Ghangalwadi, Mendhi and Chondhi on the eastern side of the taluka were affected due to the rain. Some of the villages around Vadangli were affected for the second consecutive year. "We expect the total loss of crop around 800 hectares of area this time," said Sinnar tehsildar Manoj Khairnar.
"There have been no rains in the region for the past four years. We managed to get some rabi crops but even they are washed away," rued Wadangli farmer Datta Khule.
An estimated 2,600 hectares of farms that include 1,520 hectares of wheat could have been damaged in Niphad taluka due to the rain on Tuesday. "Onion crop across 935 hectares of land is likely to be affected and the grapes across 50 hectares could be damaged because of the rain," Niphad tehsildar Sandeep Aher said.
The weather department said that the thunderstorms, rain and hailstorms were reported in Marathwada, Vidarbha and North Madhya Maharashtra regions of the state due to influx of a trough from Lakshwadeep to Madhya Maharashtra, which has moisture incursion from Bay of Bengal.
The weather system has moved westwards and now the trough stretches from Lakshwadeep to Gujarat. The conditions would continue in Madhya Maharashtra and Maharashtra for another day and would recede later.
Medha Khole, deputy director general (weather forecasting) at IMD, Pune said the trough at lower level of the atmosphere has led to tall cloud development of which some parts are above freezing level causing hailstorms.
"The activity cannot be called unseasonal as it has occurred due to change in weather conditions and experienced in isolated places. It is a temporary phenomenon and dry weather conditions would return during the next 24 hours," Khole told TOI.
On Wednesday, the minimum temperature in city climbed three degrees above normal to be recorded at 13.8 degrees Celsius. The maximum temperature was also one degree above than normal at 32 degrees celsius.