Rains batter Telangana

Hyderabad: "Floods are coming be alert. Take all precautionary measures," Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao instructed Collectors, Superintendents of Police (SPs) and Revenue officials.

KCR on Thursday convened an emergency review meeting in the wake of reports that normal life was affected in many parts of Telangana due to torrential rains. Nearly five persons were feared to have died in the rain-related incidents on Thursday. Hundreds of colonies in the low-lying areas got marooned and public transportation was affected in 17 Telangana districts. The famous Yadadri temple in Bhongir district has been closed after boulders fell on the ghat road.

With huge inflows in the Godavari river, flood gates of all the major projects, including Sriram Sagar, Yellampalli, Kadem and Gaddennavagu were lifted and measures were taken to shift people from the low-lying areas to safer places.

North Telangana districts were put on high alert and the Hyderabad city was also under close watch in the wake of heavy to very heavy rain warning in the next 24 hours.

To mitigate the rain-related loss of human lives, choppers have been kept ready in the districts which are receiving heavy rain.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams have been despatched to the affected areas to rescue the stranded people in the flood waters.

Nirmal district received the highest rainfall in the last 24 hours and bore the brunt of flood waters. Several colonies in Bhainsa and Nirmal town were marooned. Due to overflowing of Gaddennavagu many areas like GSR colony were badly flooded and people had taken shelter on rooftops. The filter bed was also inundated, and two municipal employees were stuck there. NDRF teams have been taking measures to rescue them.

In another incident, a pregnant woman who was on way to hospital in an autorickshaw got stuck as the roads were waterlogged. She was shifted to a bullock cart to reach the ambulance that was waiting at a distance leading to the family members spending tense moments.

In Rajanna Sircilla district, the recently inaugurated integrated Collectorate complex premises was flooded with rainwater. The officials had to struggle to drain out the rainwater from the office premises.

In Nizamabad, water-logging was reported on highway. Low-lying areas got flooded. SRSP project and Manjira received heavy inflows. About 40 families in Nizamabad urban and other places were shifted to relief camps. Sri Umamaheswara temple in Ummeda, got submerged under floodwater.

In Vemulawada, 15 fishermen were stuck in Mulavagu rivulet following flood. Police and local people made all-out attempts to rescue them. Medigadda, Mid Manair and Upper Manair also received heavy inflows.

A 23-year-old person was washed away in the flood waters at Pangidi Madara waterfalls in Komaram Bheem Asifabad. Search operations were on to trace the body.

Red alert has been declared in Nirmal, Komaram Bheem Asifabad, Mancherial, Jagtial, Peddapalli, Jayashankar Bhupalapally, Mulugu and Bhadradri Kothagudem districts and advised people not to venture out until normalcy was restored in their areas.

Orange alert was issued in Adilabad, Nizamabad, Rajanna Sircilla, Karimnagar, Mulugu, Bhadradri Kothagudem, Khammam, Mahabubabad, Warangal (Rural), Warangal (Urban), Siddipet and Kamareddy districts.