Representative image: Shutterstock
In an ecological disaster, around 50,000 trees spread over 500 hectares of forests in Mulugu district of Telangana were uprooted following a strong gale and a sudden cloud burst.
This happened on the night of August 31 due to local weather conditions that suddenly developed there due to cloud formation, a senior forest official said on Wednesday.
“We have never seen such an incident in our lives,” the official told PTI.
The strong wind and gushing water (within a certain width and length) have destroyed the forest and uprooted large trees, he said.
The other reason the trees were uprooted was that the plants do not develop a very deep root system as moisture and nutrition are easily available to them in the area, he said.
In some places, the root system develops within a foot, he added.
If the root system had been very deep, the damage would have been less, the official said. In some places, the top was broken off because one tree fell on another tree or the top could have been broken off due to some “injury” to the tree.
The forest department has started a damage assessment, which is expected to be completed in about a fortnight once the current rains subside.
The official said that while cloudbursts have been reported in places like Himachal Pradesh, he has not detected any damage to the forest over such a large stretch of land.
The forest department will prepare a report and also urge experts or agencies like the meteorological department to shed light on the reasons for the weather phenomenon that led to massive damage to the forest, he said, adding that they will plan how to rejuvenate the area to bring back its glory.
Although the forest is home to bison and spotted deer, no wildlife deaths have been reported, he said.
Telangana Panchayat Raj Minister Danasari Anasuya expressed anguish over the loss of trees on about 500 acres.
There would have been widespread destruction if the incident had occurred in the villages, it said in a statement.
He said that Telangana Union Ministers G Kishan Reddy and Bandi Sanjay Kumar should send special teams from the Centre to ascertain the reasons for the incident.
The Centre should allocate special funds to rejuvenate forests where trees were uprooted, he said.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First published: September 4, 2024 | 21:43 IS
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