Heavy rains continued to lash parts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for the second consecutive day on Sunday, disrupting normal life as many villages that were cut off from the mainland due to overflowing streams and rivulets, while several localities in the urban areas witnessed heavy water logging.
In Telangana, as many as six districts -- Warangal, Siddipet, Adilabad, Jayashankar Bhupalpally, Bhadradri Kothagudem and Mulug were affected, while in five districts Andhra Pradesh -- East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur and Kurnool districts were badly-hit.
According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) bulletin on Sunday afternoon, the heavy rains were the result of a low-pressure area over north coastal Odisha and adjoining areas of northwest Bay of Bengal and Gangetic West Bengal with the associated cyclonic circulation extending up to 9.5 km above mean sea level.
“It is very likely to move west-north westwards and weaken gradually during next 48 hours. A fresh low-pressure area is likely to form over north Bay of Bengal around August 19,” the bulletin said.
In Telangana’s Warangal town, several colonies were submerged due to heavy rains since Friday night. The district received heavy rainfall ranging from 10 cm to 27 cm during this period, the weather agency bulletin stated.
{{/usCountry}}In Telangana’s Warangal town, several colonies were submerged due to heavy rains since Friday night. The district received heavy rainfall ranging from 10 cm to 27 cm during this period, the weather agency bulletin stated.
{{/usCountry}}Following an SOS message from the Warangal (urban) administration, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation sent three disaster response force teams to Warangal on Sunday along with boats and other equipment to rescue people caught in the flood water and shift them to safer areas.
“We shall take part in the rescue operations along with Warangal (Urban) district machinery,” Enforcement, Vigilance and Disaster Management director Viswajit Kampani said.
An official release from the chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s office said the government had established two control rooms in Hyderabad to monitor the situation and also pressed two helicopters including a defence chopper into service for rescue and relief operations.
The Godavari river has been in full spate inundating several villages all along its course. At the temple town of Bhadrachalam in Telangana, the authorities issued a second level warning as the water level in the river reached 52.50 feet at 1 pm on Sunday. “The water level continues to raise,” the official bulletin said.
The CMO said due to the continuous rains, several streams and rivulets were in full spate across the state. In several districts, breaches to bunds of many water bodies were reported. Drainage canals were overflowing and water-logging continued on the roads in urban areas at many places, the bulletin added
. “Under the current conditions, there is a severe threat of inundation due to overflowing tanks and streams especially in the erstwhile districts of Warangal and Karimnagar where very heavy rains were reported,”the bulletin added.
In Hyderabad too, the GHMC authorities have advised people to vacate dilapidated residential buildings considering the heavy rains.
Meanwhile, the water level in Godavari at Kunavaram and Polavaram in Andhra Pradesh’s West Godavari district has also been rising alarmingly. At Dowleshwaram in East Godavari, the authorities opened the gates of the Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage and let off 14.63 lakh cubic feet per second (cusecs) of water into the sea, as a result of which several island villages in Konaseema area have been submerged in waters.
The state government kept its state and national disaster response force teams on high alert. “We are keenly monitoring the situation in 27 flood-prone blocks in East Godavari district,” an official release said.