Powerful waterspout tears through Lenkalagadda forest in Palimela mandal, leaving a trail of destruction
Warangal: A powerful tornado-like phenomenon, described as a waterspout, struck the Lenkalagadda forest area in Palimela mandal of Jayashankar Bhupalpally district, causing widespread destruction and panic among locals.
The intense storm, which formed near the Godavari River, travelled about two kilometres from north to south, with its swirling vortex reaching high into the sky, eyewitnesses said. This is the second such natural event reported in the region within a year, raising serious concern among residents along the Godavari.
The sudden storm, which hit between 4 pm and 6 pm on Tuesday, flattened a large number of trees across the Lenkalagadda forest range. Locals estimate that the devastation stretched across 2 to 3 km, with fallen trees visible for over a kilometre.
Upon receiving information, forest department officials visited the site and began field inspections to assess the extent of damage caused by the severe winds. The powerful gusts also damaged nearby agricultural fields, destroying crops such as cotton and chilli and inflicting heavy losses on farmers.
Vilas Rao, former sarpanch of Ambatipally village, told Deccan Chronicle that several farmers narrowly escaped death. “One farmer was seriously injured when his bullock cart carrying agricultural motors was swept away by the waterspout’s force,” he said. Other farmers working in the fields were reportedly lifted into the air and thrown back down by the storm’s intensity.
The Lenkalagadda forest range, located in an interior part of Palimela mandal, suffers from poor communication infrastructure, which is hampering disaster assessment and immediate relief efforts.
The area’s proximity to the Medigadda Barrage, a key component of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, has also raised concern. The barrage, situated near Ambatipally village just before the Palimela forest range, lies close to a region now witnessing recurring extreme weather events.
Locals expressed alarm over the increasing frequency of such incidents, recalling similar tornado-like winds that struck the Medaram forest area of Mulugu district last year.
Experts suggested that the formation of waterspouts near the Godavari could be linked to sharp temperature fluctuations and recent cyclonic activity. The recurrence of such intense, tornado-style winds has heightened fear among communities living in the Godavari River catchment area.
Storm Brings up Sad Memories
The Tuesday’s tornadic waterspout that caused extensive damage in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district’s Palimela mandal, brought back memories of an extremely strong overland cyclone that flattened a large part of the forest in Mulugu district last year, and not too far away from Palimela.
Though windspeeds accompanying a tornadic waterspout can hit 100 kmph, the overland cyclone of August 31, 2024 that uprooted thousands of trees and blew away the crowns of tens of thousands, was much stronger clocking reported speeds of up to 140 kmph.
These two weather intense and rare weather events, though separated by 14 months, occurred not very far from each other with the distance between the affected areas being just around 50 km as the crow flies.
When the final count of damage after the Mulugu overland cyclone was made, it was found that some 50,000 trees were either flattened or had their tops blown off on the two sides of the Tadvai-Medaram road in the Eturunagaram forests.
During an assessment following the August 31 event in Mulugu, it was found that two weather systems — a cyclonic circulation that originated over the Bay of Bengal, and another over the Arabian Sea — collided into one another over Chhattisgarh resulting in shear zones in the atmosphere. This clash of two weather systems resulted in the formation of an overland cyclone that caused the Mulugu event.
