Telangana, Andhra relief operations intensify as water recedes
Several parts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana started returning to normal and relief operations picked up momentum on Tuesday, as the fury subsided and floods receded to a considerable extent
Several parts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, which were devastated by heavy rainfall and floods in the last four days, started returning to normal and relief operations picked up momentum on Tuesday, as the fury subsided and floods receded to a considerable extent.
However, India Meteorological Department (IMD), Hyderabad, sounded a yellow alert indicating that heavy rainfall and thunderstorms were very likely to occur at isolated places in Komaram Bheem Asifabad, Mancherial, Jayashankar Bhupalpally, Mulugu, Bhadradri Kothagudem, Khammam, Suryapet, Mahabubabad, Warangal, Hanamkonda, Jangaon districts of Telangana on Wednesday and Thursday.
In Andhra Pradesh, the inflows into Krishna river at Prakasam barrage at Vijayawada, which reached the highest-ever figure of 1.14 million cusecs on Monday, receded substantially and reached 776,000 cusecs by Tuesday evening.
According to official figures, 20 people died in the rain and flood-related incidents in Andhra Pradesh, including an electrician who was washed away in flood waters at Vijayawada, while restoring power supply in the affected areas on Tuesday.
In Telangana, the official toll due to rain-related incidents remained at 16, but opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) disclosed a list of 28 people who died due to heavy rainfall and floods. “We are sending the list of the deceased to the government. It can verify the deaths. We demand that the government pay ex gratia to the families of all these deceased,” BRS legislator and former minister T Harish Rao said.
Meanwhile, relief operations are going on in full swing in both the Telugu states. According to an official statement from the Andhra Pradesh government on Tuesday evening, more than 644,000 people were affected due to floods all over the state. As many as 42,707 people were shifted to 193 relief camps.
“In all, 48 rescue teams, including 22 teams of state disaster response force (SDRF) and 26 teams of national disaster response force (NDRF) were deployed. Six choppers – two from Navy and four from Indian Air Force – were pressed into service for airdropping food items and airlifting people stranded in inundated area. Similarly, a total of 228 boats were arranged to evacuate people from inundated areas,” the official note said.
Several areas in Vijayawada and villages in the downstream of Krishna river in Krishna district, which were submerged in flood water, began returning to normal, as the rescue teams reached out to people stranded in the flood waters.
Similarly, the fiery Budameru rivulet, which caused heavy submergence of several areas in Vijayawada town, also subsided on Tuesday, but all the submerged areas continued to reel under the flood water for the third consecutive day.
“Over 250,000 people got trapped in submerged regions with no power supply and drinking water and remained helpless as they could not venture out in nearly ten feet flood water. The people were forced to spend sleepless nights with no power supply,” the official statement said.
Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu continued to tour the flood-hit areas extensively to personally monitor the relief operations. He interacted with the victims and reassured that the government would extend help to the last household affected by the floods.
“It is unfortunate that despite our best efforts, the authorities are not able to reach out to the interior localities to supply food and water in the last two days. Today, we set right system of food distribution by appointing 32 senior IAS officers as in-charges of food distribution and evacuation operations. We are pressing drones to carry food, water and medicines to the interior areas,” Naidu told reporters, adding that 500,000 food and water packets were supplied to the flood victims.
In Telangana’s Khammam town, which was completely ravaged by the floods to Munneru rivulet, situation returned to normalcy on Tuesday but the people were totally devastated to see their houses and properties being destroyed.
According to an official estimate, more than 600 houses were totally destroyed in the floods, while electric lines were snapped and sewerage lines clogged. “Khammam received heaviest-ever rainfall of 430 mm in a single day, leaving such a trail of destruction. The main reason for Munneru rivulet overflowing and submerging the colonies was illegal constructions coming up in its catchment areas over the years,” chief minister A Revanth Reddy said on Tuesday.
Similarly, several areas in Mahabubabad and Suryapet districts were also completely ravaged by floods. “We could avoid further loss of lives due to timely action by the government,” the chief minister claimed.
Meanwhile, chief secretary A Santhi Kumari held a high-level meeting with all the officials and asked them to prepare a comprehensive report on the extent of loss of life and properties due to heavy rains and floods.
“Many districts in Telangana are still facing heavy rains. The senior officials should depute teams to the districts to make the ground-level assessment of the situation and submit reports to the state government,” she ordered.