Unseasonal Rain, Winds Devastate Orchards In Beed: 'Everything we Worked For Has Turned To Waste'

Beed: A catastrophic spell of unseasonal rain accompanied by high-velocity winds has left a trail of destruction across Beed district, with Walipur and nearby villages in Beed tehsil emerging as some of the hardest-hit areas on Friday afternoon.

The sudden weather shift has not only uprooted trees but has also decimated years of agricultural investment, pushing local farmers to the brink of a financial crisis.

The intensity of the storm was such that several decade-old trees, including jamun and babul, were uprooted from their bases. In Walipur, a sprawling four-acre orchard, home to a variety of fruit-bearing trees including lemon, sweet lime (mosambi), jamun and mango, was virtually flattened.

“In my family’s 100-year history, elders say they have never seen destruction of this magnitude,” said one affected farmer. “The wind and hail were so severe that rivers and streams flooded within a short duration. I spent nearly ₹2 lakh annually to maintain this orchard, and today, not even 10% of it is left to harvest.”

The devastation extends beyond the fields. Gale-force winds blew the tin roofs off several houses in the village and caused large trees to collapse across main roads, paralysing local transport. Power infrastructure was also hit, leaving the village in darkness after electricity poles were snapped during the storm.

Despite the scale of the disaster, residents expressed frustration over the lack of immediate administrative response. Farmers said no government officials had visited the site to conduct a panchnama in the immediate aftermath.

“Everything we worked for has turned to waste. Our crops are rotting in the mud,” said another villager. “We now depend entirely on the government. We need immediate inspection and urgent financial compensation.”

Former Beed Zilla Parishad vice-president Gangadhar Ghumre demanded immediate panchnamas and compensation for affected farmers.