Flower trade swept away in cyclone Laila

Flower merchants in several districts of Andhra Pradesh have suffered huge losses a day after cyclone 'Laila' struck the state's coast.

"We have incurred huge losses when we are at a recovering stage from earlier debts," said Kadiam Flower Merchants Association members from East Godavari district, hit by cyclonic storm.

Another flower vendor Satyanarayana, who is in this trade for last 25 years told PTI that the cyclonic storm coupled with heavy rains uprooted many trees and damaged many flowers plants in several areas following which he lost out on many marriage party orders due to snapped communication links and transport.

Also, we were just recovering from the losses suffered on account of Telangana agitation when this cyclonic storm hit us, said another flower merchant, Narayana.

If the situation persists for many days, we will be pushed back into another debt trap, he said.

Only if rains stop and traffic resumes, we will be able to send flower bouquets and loose petals through trucks, which are mostly lying stranded due to inundated roads and fallen electric poles and trees, he said.

Subba Rao, whose family is in this business for many years now, says that they send flowers in bulk to neighbouring states like Karnataka and Tamilnadu but this calamity has severely hit their trade.

Kadiam is situated in the East godavari district and is nearer to Rajahmundry.