Telangana on high alert after record rainfall batters several districts

Telangana is on high alert after a record rainfall battered several districts over the last 24 hours, with Lakshmidevipeta village in Venkatapuram mandal of Mulugu district recording the State’s highest ever rainfall of 64.98 cm in 24 hours ending 8 am on Thursday. At least 13 people were washed away in separate incidents in Mulugu, while two persons were drowned in separate incidents and a woman suffered an abortion after the wall of her house collapsed on her in erstwhile Medak district.

A goldsmith was electrocuted in Hanamkonda after strong winds brought down a live electric wire, while another woman was killed in a wall collapse in Korutla of Jagtial. While the body of one of the persons washed away in Mulugu was retrieved, the confirmed death toll in the rains so far stood at six, including that of the baby of the woman who suffered an abortion in Medak. With 12 persons who were washed away yet to be traced, the death toll could go up.

Mulugu in erstwhile Warangal bore a major part of the brunt, with at least 30 villages and hamlets in Eturnagaram, Mangapet and SS Tadwai being inundated.

Across the State, the water levels in almost every irrigation project, major, medium and minor ones included, were rising, with several of the reservoirs overflowing their storage capacity, forcing authorities to evacuate several thousands of people and shift them to relief centres that have been opened in all the affected districts. While the rising water levels in the Godavari River, especially in Bhadrachalam is being monitored round the clock, the Kaddam project survived a major scare after overflowing for a major part of the day. Gates of almost all major projects in the State have been lifted to let out the continuing excess inflows.

In the erstwhile Khammam district alone, 3,296 persons from 18 villages were shifted to 71 relief centres. With the Moranchapalle village in Bhupalpally, which recorded over 400mm of rain, being submerged, Army helicopters, NDRF and SDRF teams were roped into help in relief operations. Five people were airlifted to safety by the



choppers.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, who is monitoring the situation closely, directed Education Minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy to declare a holiday for all educational institutions in the State on Friday. He also asked Chief Secretary A Santhi Kumari to depute senior bureaucrats to six of the flood-affected districts to oversee the flood relief operations, while Ministers and elected representatives are on the field, overseeing the relief operations round the clock.

A control room was set up in the Secretariat to monitor the situation on an hourly basis, with three senior officers being tasked with the response mechanism at the control room. In case of emergencies, the State level control room at the Secretariat can be reached out on 040-23450779, 7997950008, and 7997959782.

Two NDRF teams have been kept ready for deployment in Hyderabad. Two more teams have been stationed at Kothagudem and one at Mulugu. Control rooms set up at all the district headquarters have also started functioning.

While a bulletin from the Telangana State Development Planning Society said 20 out of 33 districts registered rainfall of above 200mm till 8 am on Thursday, the India Meteorological Department, Hyderabad has forecast heavy to very rains in Hyderabad, Jangaon, Bhupalpally, Karimnagar, Medchal-Malkajgiri, Siddipet, parts of erstwhile Warangal and erstwhile Nalgonda over the next 24 hours.

While several villages were inundated, forcing people to take shelter on rooftops, traffic on several roads, including national highways, was disrupted by overflowing water bodies and uprooted trees. A group of 80 tourists were rescued in the early hours of Thursday after they were stranded near the Mutyala Dhara waterfalls in Bhupalpally. Nineteen labourers, who were stranded in sand quarries in the Manair River in Peddapalli were also rescued by the district administration, while students of a KGV School in Nizamabad were shifted after the school was inundated. A pregnant woman in Ramalingapet of Jagtial was rushed to hospital after she developed labour pains, with the help of an excavator that took her across the flooded road.