WARANGAL: One lakh trees spread over 200 hectares in Eturnagaram forest region between Thadvai and Medaram were uprooted by heavy rains followed by tornado like gusty winds in Mulugu district.
The incident which took place two days back came to light when forest officials under the supervision of Warangal division CCF Prabhakar and Mulugu forest officer Rahul Kishan Jadav inspected the region on Tuesday.
Right from early Wednesday morning, the technical team conducted an inquiry and collected samples of the soil from three meters depth from various locations in the forest.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, district forest officer Rahul Kishan Jadav said it is rare in the entire Telangana state. Several types of trees including valuable and medicinal plants spread over 200 hectares were uprooted.
Even though the exact reason was not known, it might be because of local weather condition. Suddenly when the air pressure drops off, the wind rushes to low pressure areas at a speed of around 90 to 120 miles per hour. This would have resulted in uprooting of trees on a massive scale.
It is fortunate that the incident took place in the forest region. Had it happened in human habitation, then a major disaster would have happened.
For the past two days, forest officials are inspecting the entire area and conducting an enquiry to find out the actual reasons. By keeping strict vigilance in the forest region, monitoring was done to prevent local people from entering the forests.
Meanwhile, SP Shabarish said because of the rare weather phenomenon along with heavy rains and gusty winds a large portion of forest area was badly affected.
The police are ready to extend all support to the forest department, he added.