Hyderabad: More than 10 people died in various rain-related incidents since the current spell of incessant rains began in Telangana five days ago, a senior official said on Wednesday. The rain-related incidents include walls collapsing, persons being washed away, electrocution and others. The damage due to the heavy rains is being assessed but the destruction of roads has not been major, he said.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) here said extremely heavy rainfall occurred at most places in Nirmal district, at a few places in Kumram Bheem and Peddapalli districts and at isolated places in Adilabad, Jagtial, Karimnagar and other districts.
Very heavy rainfall occurred at most places in Adilabad, Jayashankar Bhupalpally and other districts, it said in a release. Several other places in the state received heavy rains. Low-lying areas were inundated while rivulets and other water bodies were in spate at various places in the state following the incessant rainfall. Roads linking villages were affected in some places.
In the Bhadradri-Kothagudem district, the third warning (53 feet) was issued as the water level in the Godavari river water was 55.10 ft at 9 pm at the temple town of Bhadrachalam. The district officials said the flood level may rise up to 66 ft by Thursday and that people living in areas facing possible submergence have been shifted to relief centres. Those who have still not moved to the centres should do so, they said.
Official sources said people from 12 villages have been evacuated from the flood-prone villages under the Kadem project in the Nirmal district which received huge inflows.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who held a meeting with ministers and officials on the situation arising out of heavy rains here, directed relief operations to be conducted on a war-footing, an official release said. He spoke to Forest Minister A Indrakaran Reddy over the phone and instructed him to take up safety measures at the Kadem project.
The CM directed Special Secretary, Municipal Administration, Arvind Kumar to take required safety measures at Nirmal and other flood-prone municipalities. He gave instructions to irrigation officials in view of the Godavari and Krishna rivers flowing vigorously following heavy rains upstream, the release said.
Also read: Telangana rains: Three dead in separate incidents, MET predicts wet weather for next two days
Rao asked Roads and Building Minister V Prashant Reddy to take up repairs of damaged state and national highways. He told the Chief Secretary, irrigation officials, district collectors and SPs to ensure that there is no loss of life due to the heavy rains.
Transport Minister P Ajay Kumar was told by the CM to monitor the evacuation of people from flood-affected areas in Bhadrachalam in the wake of rising flood waters in the Godavari, it said. The Chief Minister told power officials to take steps to see that the electricity supply is not hit due to the rains and to stock adequate coal for generating power for one month. He asked the officials to start hydel power generation where the projects are receiving heavy inflows.
Rao appealed to the people to avoid venturing out of their homes except in emergencies in view of the heavy rains, it said. The CM also spoke to ministers, district collectors and all department officials over the phone about the situation and issued instructions to them. He reiterated that the ministers and MLAs should not leave their local assembly constituencies until normalcy is restored.
Due to the forecast of heavy rains, the Secunderabad-headquartered South Central Railway (SCR) said 34 MMTS (Multi-Modal Transport System) services in the city have been cancelled from July 14 to July 17.
Meanwhile, in its weather warnings, issued at 1730 hours on Wednesday, the Met Centre said heavy to very heavy with extremely heavy rain is very likely to occur at isolated places in Kumuram Bheem Asifabad, Mancherial, Rajanna Sircilla and other districts till 0830 hours of July 14.
Heavy to very heavy rain is very likely to occur at isolated places in Adilabad, Kumuram Bheem Asifabad, Mancherial and other districts from 0830 hours of July 14 to 0830 hours of July 15, it said. (PTI)
