Vizagapatam/Chapter 8

by Walter Francis

CHAPTER III.

RAINFALL AND SEASONS.

Rainfall. Famines and Scarcities— In 1790-92— In 1824- In 1865-6(3— In 1871-72— In 1876-78— In 1885-86— In 1889— In 1896-97— The relief granted — Private charity and Government loans — Cost to the State— Resisting power of the district. Floods and Storms — Storm of 1700- Of 1749 — And of 1752— Cyclone of 1867— Flood and cyclone of 1870— Flood of 1872— Cyclone of 1876 — Two cyclones of 1 878. Earthquakes.

Statistics of the rainfall at the various recording stations in both Rainfall, the plains and the Agency, and for the district as a whole, are given below for the dry weather (January to !March), the hot weather (April and May), the south-west monsoon (Juno to September), the north-east monsoon (October to December) and the whole year. The figures shown are the averages of those recorded between 1904 and the earliest year in which rainfall was systematically registered at each station.

Years recorded. Janu- April June to October station. ary to and Septem- to De- Total. Msrch. May. ber. cember. Koraput Division. Jeypore 1882-1904 0-94 4-18 64-61 5-40 7513 Koraput 1877-1904 0-93 3-96 48-95 5-50 59-34 Malkanagiri ,,. 1882-1904 0-56 3-OS 58-12 4-70 66-46 Naurangijur ... 1882-1904 0-83 3-56 55-99 3-90 64-28 Padwa 1882-1904 1-55 7- 69 37-18 7-28 53-70 Pottangi 1883-1904 1-69 6U8 44-81 10-12 62-70 Narasayatam Diviaion. Anakfi.palle 1870-1904 0-71 2-90 21-34 11-44 36-89 Narasapatam ... 1870-1904 1-64 5-21 . 24-37 11-54 42-76 P61avaram 1895-1904 1-98 2-89 '17-06 9-28 31-21 Yellamanohili 1870-1904 1-00 345 20-55 12-37 37-37 Ch6davaram ... 1870-1904 1-39 4-58 25-42 12-57 43-96 Pdrvatipur Division. Bissamkatak 1890-1904 1-69 5-92 36-40 4-00 48-03 Bobbin 188 J- 1904 1-88 3-91 28-56 7-72 4207 Gunupur 1882-1904 2-02 4-96 34-89 6-05 47-92 P&rvatipnr 1870-1904 1-90 4-55 30-98 8-69 46-12 Rayagada 1877-1904 1-29 5-35 32-30 5-92 44-86 S41dr 1870-1904 1-40 4-39 26-83 10-90

43-58

It will be seen that the average annual fall in the plains is 41 inches, and in the Agency as a whole 57 inches. The wettest part of the district is the strip beyond the 3,000 feet plateau (Jeypore, Malkanagiri and Naurangpur taluks) in parts of which the fall is 75 inches, of which no less than 65 inches is brought by the south-west monsoon; next comes the 3,000 feet plateau itself (Koraput, PAdwa and Pottangi) with an average of 59 inches; then the lower Parvatipur Agency (Bissamkatak, Gunupur and Rayagada) with 47 inches ; after that the submontane stations on the plains (such as Chodavaram, Salur and Palkonda) with 44 inches; and last those on the coast, average 37 inches, of which Polavaram (only 31 inches) is the most unfortunate of all. It will thus be noticed that the fall decreases steadily in these tracts according as each is further and further removed from the point where the south-west monsoon first strikes the district. This current parts with the chief portion of its moisture in the tract it reaches first, and has little left for those over which it passes later on.

In the case of the north-east monsoon the conditions are reversed; and while places on the coast, like Waltair and Bimlipatam, get from 14 to 16 inches, Jeypore and Naurangpur, beyond the ghats and the last to be reached by the current, only get from 4 to 6 inches. This monsoon, however, is of much less importance to the welfare of the district than the south-west. Violent fluctuations in the amount received are usual in all parts of the district. In Jeypore the annual fall has varied from 46½ inches in 1901 to 105 inches in 1890; in Koraput it has ranged between 40 inches in 1899 and 84 in 1893; in Bissamkatak between 36 inches in 1899 and 65 in 1903; in Chódavaram between 24 inches in 1900 and 80 in 1878; and in Pólavaram between 19 inches in 1896 and 44 inches in 1903. In the plains as a whole the heaviest fall on record is the 70-90 inches of 1878 (the year of the disastrous cyclone referred to below) and the lightest the 24-98 inches of 1896; while in the Agency the maximum known was the 72-88 inches of 1893 and the minimum the 41-32 of 1879.

The district has suffered but little from famines and scarcities.

In common with the rest of the north of the Presidency, it experienced a serious dearth of food between November 1790 and November 1792. In April 1791, 1,200 persons were stated to have died of starvation in the neighbourhood of Vizagapatam, and the transit duties on grain were suspended and the Chief and Council issued supplies gratis to the poor from the public stores.

The failure of the two monsoons of 1823 resulted in nearly half the wet land being left uncultivated and in the dry land crops suffering greatly, so that early in 1824 the price of grain was double the normal. The importation of food-stuffs was encouraged by the removal of the transit duties and the grant of a bonus, employment was given by the State to a number of persons, and the opening of a relief dépót was sanctioned. In October 1824 good rain fell, prices declined and all fears subsided.

The effects of the Orissa famine of 1865-66 were somewhat felt in Vizagapatam, prices rising to famine rates; cholera,small-pox and cattle disease being prevalent; and some emigration to Burma taking place. But grain was sent down by sea in large quantities from Balasore, and by road from Chicacole and Kimedi, and there was little severe suffering.

The north-east monsoon of 1868 failed and some anxiety prevailed until the south-west rains of 1869 proved to be favourable.

In 1871 distress threatened, and Mr. G. Thornhill, Member of the Board, was deputed in November to report on the state of the district and of Ganjám. Between that date and the middle of 1872, when all pressure was over, some Rs. 75,000 were spent upon relief-works in this district, considerable emigration to Gódávari took place, and the Mahárája of Vizianagram authorized the expenditure of two lakhs on irrigation works in his estate.The distress was never really serious.

The great famine of 1876-78, which wrought such terrible havoc in the south of the Presidency, was hardly felt in Vizagapatam. Prices rose, no doubt, in consequence of the exportation of grain to the affected areas, and cholera was more than usually prevalent, but the remissions granted in the two Government taluks of Golgonda and Sarvasiddhi amounted to less than Rs. 20,000 and in only one month were there more than 1,000 persons in receipt of relief. The two cyclones of 1878 mentioned below did far more harm, in fact, than the famine.

The season of 1885-86 was especially unfavourable, and in the two Government taluks remissions amounting to Rs. 70,000 were necessary.

Yet in 1889, the year of 'the Ganjám famine,' Vizagapatam escaped almost entirely. This was owing to large imports of grain by sea, and by land from Gódávari and the Jeypore country, and to an increase in the usual emigration to Burma for the paddy harvest and to Gódávari for silt-clearing in the canals and work on the Nizam's railway to Bezwada, which was then approaching completion.

In 1891-92 there was again considerable scarcity of food;but the district was saved by the grain which poured down from Bastar and Jeypore by the new ghát road to the latter, and relief- works were never necessary.

In 1896-97 occurred the last famine which the district has witnessed. Conditions were aggravated by the prevalence of wide-spread distress in other parts. The north-east monsoon of 1896 was an absolute failure, the fall in the littoral tracts being less than an inch against an average of 13 inches. Though the area sown, both wet and dry, was not much below the average,the outturn was very inferior. Large imports of grain took place by rail, and even more came in by road from the Jeypore country,as much as 70,000 tons arriving altogether between January and October; but the price of ragi rose in the affected area of the district from 29 seers the rupee in August 1896 to 11 seers in July 1897. Emigrants to Burma increased from the normal of 7,000 to about 20,000 and the movement to Gódávari, though not actually enumerated, was known to be equally in excess of the ordinary. Pasture became very scarce, grass being sold at Vizagapatam at 7 annas the bundle against the usual price of 1 anna, but the forests were thrown open for grazing and the mortality among cattle was apparently slight. Relief-works were opened in March 1897, but (see the figures below) were sparsely attended until the south-west monsoon threatened also to fail, when people crowded to the works and in addition gratuitous relief was necessary on a considerable scale. In August, however, the district recovered almost as suddenly as it had declined. The report on the famine explained this by saying that —

'The cause of the sudden demoralization may be ascribed to the almost perpetual immunity from famine that the district has enjoyed Even in 1876-78 it escaped practically scatheless. The break-down in the present year appears to have been due to the fact that, while the people realised that a disaster was impending, they had no experience of its nature or of the extent to which they could rely upon the help of the State, and consequently exaggerated the unknown danger before them. It may also, perhaps, have been due to the belief, which pre- vailed throughout the Presidency, in a prophecy that the last three years of the current Hindu cycle ending with 1900 would be years of famine and pestilence ending in a general débâcle, in which caste would disappear.'

Part of the sudden crowding to the works was also doubtless due to the high rates of wages which were being paid at them,and much of the sudden recovery to the excellence of the rain in August and September. The parts of the district which were earliest and most severely affected were the taluks of Bimlipatam,Vizagapatam and Sarvasiddhi, and parts of Anakápalle and of the Vizianagram zamindari. But eventually the whole of the plains portion of the district and the Pálkonda Agency were included in the area of distress.

The average numbers on relief in the district during the famine and the price in seers per rupee of ragi in each month in the affected taluks are shown below : — Month and year. Average nnmber of people relieved during each month. Price of ragi in seers per rupee. On relief works. Weavers. On gratui- tous relief. Total. March 1S97 April ., 1 May ,, 1 June ,, 1 July Anfrast „ September ,, 3,042 10,616 12,992 15,132 20,401 12,935 5,834 ' 698 5,130 7,599 6,637 394 1,946 2,711 9,630 27,878 13,522 4,534 3,436 12,562 15,703 25,460 53,478 34,056 17,005 210 15-7 14-2 11-2 10-8 12-4 12-2 Weavers were relieved by making them advances of material and taking over the fabrics woven therefrom at rates which left the workers sufficient for their maintenance during the time spent in weaving them.

From the Indian Famine Charitable Relief Fund, Rs. 1,42,000 were received for expenditure in the district, and nearly the whole of this was laid out in setting up afresh with cattle, seed etc. those who had suffered most severely by the distress. The Mahárája of Bobbili and Mahárája Gajapati Rao were conspicuous by their charity during the famine, and their example was followed by the Vizianagram estate and several prominent people in the district. The amounts advanced by Government comprised Rs. 6,030 under the Land Improvement Loans Act and Rs. 1,42,616 under the Agriculturists Loans Act. Of the latter sum, the greater part was spent on the purchase of cattle and seed-grain when the distress was over.

The loss to the State from remissions of land revenue was Rs. 1,53,000 and from other causes Rs. 15,900. The direct expenditure on the famine amounted to Rs. 4,48,695 (of which Rs. 2,15,900 were laid out on works and Rs. 1,26,900 on gratuitous relief) and the indirect expenditure to Rs. 10,823. The total cost to the State was thus some 6¼ lakhs.

The power of the district to withstand the attacks of famine is above the normal. Labour is available in the fields for nearly ten months out of the twelve. As a late Collector put it: —

'In the Deccan, I believe, there is little besides the one big harvest of the staple dry crop. Here there is cultivation and harvesting of some kind going on almost all the year. With the first good showers in May ploughing of dry lands and sowing of ragi and cambu in seed-beds commences, and in June transplantation of these crops is in full swing. Even earlier than this, if showers have been received, gingelly has been sown. As soon as transplantation of dry crops is over, should the south-west monsoon set in, wet lands are ploughed and paddy seed sown. At the end of July paddy transplantation begins and continues through August. Hardly is that over when the ragi and cambu harvest commences and is carried on through September. Gingelly is meanwhile being reaped in August and September and korra, vuda, and sámai in August. When the ragi and cambu is off the ground, dry lands are immediately prepared again and sown with grams and pulses— or a second crop of ragi or with cholam. Then follows the norch-east monsoon in October, and very soon after that is over early paddy commences to be harvested Ragi, sown at various periods, is being cut all this time. The big paddy harvest commences in November and extends into December. Then follows the cold weather cultivation of ragi, chillies'&c . under wells, and the harvesting of grams and pulses. Indigo is sown as soon as the paddy is off the ground, and sugar-cane is harvested up to March. When this is over, it is almost time to sow gingelly again, so that in fact it is only for about two and a half months from March to May that agriculture of some kind is not proceeding to a considerable extent.'

Moreover, as has been said, emigration to Burma and Gódávari is an established custom.

Irrigation sources, if seldom on a large scale, are numerous, and some of them have their sources in the forests on the Gháts and so benefit from the heavier rainfall received there — though the effect of the reckless felling of those jungles is becoming very perceptible in the diminished volume and constancy of their flow.

Communications are also excellent. From one end of the district to the other runs a railway which links it with Bengal on the north and the Gódávari and Kistna deltas on the south; its two ports enable grain to be brought to it from Rangoon; and the roads from Párvatípur to Ráyagada and from Sálúr across the 3,000 feet plateau to Jeypore and Naurangpur render available in case of need immense areas of grain land wherein the rains scarcely ever fail. At the beginning of 1906 the high prices occasioned by the shortage in other parts of India resulted in an almost continuous string of grain-laden carts — 1,200 a day were counted — pouring down from the Jeypore country by the ghát leading to Sálúr.

Though Vizagapatam has" usually escaped the ravages of famine, it has experienced more than its share of floods and storms.

A letter from Vizagapatam to the Madras Government dated April 28th 1700 said—

'On the 18th here happen'd a more dreadful Storme from the N : East which lasted 3 days and did much damage to the country, and the Sea was so boystrous and came in at the rate that most of the rivers overflowed, and Struck a great terror in the Inhabitants that the country would be drowned, all vessels in the Sea along this coast were lost and many in the rivers by the force of the currant and tides, and Mr. holcombes Ship Fleetwood bound for bengall, with a large grab that was in our road, was drove a Shear and Stav'd, but thro: Gods mercy most or all the goods Saved w :th the greatest part of the wreck.'

In 1749 another storm 'greatly affected the Merchants of this place by the loss of 14 or 15 vessells, which we are affraid will much diminish our customs.' Three years later, yet another storm drove ashore a ship lying in the roads, sank some of the vessels in the river and damaged others, and caused immense havoc inland. Kasimkóta and Anakápalle had 'little left of them.' and Vizagapatam ' in general was in ruin, scarce a House with its roofing and few with the walls standing. Our people have been employed ever since in Burying the Dead Bodies both of men and cattle which were left in the Town as the waters went off.'

On the night of the 29th September 1867 a cyclone passed over Vizianagram and its neighbourhood (the wind coming first from the north-west and afterwards from the south-east) which blew the lantern off the Santapilly lighthouse and was reported to have damaged every single tiled and thatched building in the town and cantonment of Vizianagram, swept the roof off the church, blown down hundreds of trees, and torn the branches and leaves off those which it could not uproot.

On the 23rd to 25th October 1870 unusual rain fell in the centre of the district and caused a flood. At Vizianagram 16 inches were registered in 36 hours, and at Bimiipatam there were three feet of water on the salt platforms and the police constables had to climb on the roof of their lines to save their lives.

Twelve days later a furious cyclone swept over the district, the centre of it being near Vizagapatam.

It began from the north-north-east at 11 P.M. on November 4th, and ended at 5 A.M. next morning from the east-south-east. At Vizagapatam the sea rose and swept over the beach road, doing damage to the extent of Rs. 3,500; smashed up many of the masúla boats on the beach; and flooded the lower parts of the town, drowning six people and doing Rs. 6,000 worth of damage to municipal property. The wind almost levelled with the ground the temporary jail and the lines of the native regiment (one life was lost in the latter) and blew down the belfry of the church at Waltair. The anemometer at Mr. A. V. Narasinga Rao's observatory recorded that the gale was travelling at the rate of 100 miles an hour, and then one of its cups was blown off. Anakápalle town was flooded, the water being up to the parapet of the bridge over the Sárada river, and throughout the path of the cyclone trees and houses were blown down, and roads and bridges were damaged.

In June and July 1872 heavy rain fell in the hills. The Indrávati rose and swept away 25 villages on its bank, the inhabitants escaping with their smaller personal property but losing their grain and cattle, and the Vamsadhára demolished the bungalows at Gudári and Gunupur, as well as other property. One of the worst cyclones the district has ever known occurred on the 7th and 8th of October 1876. At Vizagapatam it lasted from 4 P.M. on the 7th until 9 A.M. on the 8th, and fifteen inches of rain fell in eighteen hours. The centre (or calm area) of it passed over Bimlipatam and Vizianagram, travelling at the rate of three miles an hour. At the latter place the wind first blew from the north and north-east; then a perfect calm, lasting half an hour, followed; and then the gale suddenly sprang up from the opposite direction with even greater violence than before. These two towns naturally suffered less than the areas on either side of them. A fine French ship, the Jules Rose, was driven right across the Santapilly reef by a storm- wave going westwards, and her bottom was torn out and two of her crew drowned. The storm-wave rushed up the mouth of the backwater at Vizagapatam and the level of the backwater rose eight feet, the lower parts of the town were flooded, many boats were smashed, 600 houses collapsed and 30 lives were lost. The temporary jail and the infantry lines were again almost levelled with the ground by the wind, the rain got into the Collector's office and destroyed a great quantity of records, and the new dome of Mr. Narasinga Rao's observatory — a corrugated iron structure twelve feet in diameter and nine feet high which had been placed in position but not riveted down — was blown a distance of 33 feet. Buildings,trees, roads, and channels suffered everywhere, one-fourth of the salt stored in the pans was destroyed, and the bridges over the Góstani at Chittivalasa and over the Lángulya at Chicacole were washed away. The latter was choked by trees and other débris, the strong wind blowing up the stream would not let the water get away, and finally a high wave ran up the river and completed the destruction, the six centre arches collapsing.1^[1]

In the autumn of 1878 two cyclones occurred on the coast within a month of one another, the first on the 5th of November and the second on the 6th to the 8th of December. The latter was the most disastrous the district has ever seen, as it was accompanied by very heavy rainfall (30 inches along the seaboard and twelve inches at the foot of the Gháts) which, coming at a time when the tanks were already brim full, caused floods which breached almost every large tank in the district and drowned hundreds of cattle and persons. The rain was heaviest in the Mádgole and Golgonda hills and consequently the damage was worst in the valley of the Sárada river. This stream was already running full from bank to bank when every one of its tributaries came down simultaneously in flood. It rose twelve feet above the level of ordinary freshes and inundated the whole of its valley. The fine bridge over it near Chódavaram was swept away and that at Anakápalle (the parapet walls of which were 1½ feet under water) was only saved by the road on either side of it breaching. Most of the best tanks in the Golgonda taluk were breached; the rice crop in the Anakápalle plain was almost a total loss; and in that town 987 houses and 149 cattle were destroyed and 29 lives were lost. In the Sárada valley as a whole, 414 persons, about 5,000 cattle, and 25,000 sheep and goats were drowned. Many of the bodies were swept out to sea. Some of the survivors were living on trees and house-tops for three days. A large French steamer, theCoromandal , was driven ashore at Vátáda and a French barque, the Quatre Cœurs, at Rájayyapéta. The damage to roads and to Government buildings and irrigation works in the district was estimated at Rs. 80,000.

Earthquakes have been reported as occurring in the district on the 6th January 1827, 24th August 1859, 19th December 1870 and 31st December 1881, but none of them did any damage.

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1. 1 For more details and many scientific observations and particulars, see Report on the Vizagapatam and Backergunge cyclones of October 1876 by Mr.J. Eliot, late Meteorological Reporter (Bengal Secretariat Press, 1877).