Entire Bhupalpally district under sheet of water

Warangal: was like a hell of a situation for the residents of Moranchapalli in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district, 200 kilometers northeast of Hyderabad, until the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team got to them on Thursday. The NDRF teams have a tough time to save the residents who were stranded in the Moranchapalli village that was marooned in flash floods in the Moranchavagu stream due to torrential rain in the region.

It was no exaggeration to say that the residents woke up in a pool of water as the floodwaters intruded into the village in the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday. While some residents climbed to roof-tops, some others managed to get hold of nearby trees for the safety of their lives. Thanks to the social media that projected their woes besides sending an SOS to the authorities to save them.

It took some time for the authorities to respond. The NDRF, which swung into action with inflatable rubber boats, managed to rescue 70 persons. The Army chopper airlifted six persons from Ninepaka village under Chityala mandal who were struck in Moranchavagu. They stayed in the bucket of an earthmover until the chopper came to their rescue. It may be mentioned here that around 300 families of Moranchapalli have already moved to safer places before the floodwaters entered their village. In all, 1,500 flood-affected people were shifted to the Karkapally and Laxmireddy village rehabilitation centres. Four members of a family climbed a tree after their home was washed away in the floods. The family spent 10 hours on the tree before the rescue teams got to them. The rescue teams also saved staff of 10 trucks which were struck in floodwaters near Chelpur Thermal Power Plant in Ganapuram mandal. The situation was monitored by the Bhupalpally MLA Gandra Venkataramana Reddy and district collector Bhavesh Mishra.