Telangana Flash Floods Claim 11 Lives; IMD Forecasts More Rain

HYDERABAD: Around 11 people were killed in Telangana, after incessant heavy rainfall was recorded in the northern part of the state over the last two days, officials said on Friday.

Many areas in the region continued to be inundated, even as rescue and relief work is being conducted.

Out of the 11 deaths reported, eight were said to have been killed in Mulugu district, with a group of people washed away in flash floods in Jampanna Vagu, a major stream located at Kondai village. “The bodies of five people were recovered at Medaram village on Friday morning and three others were recovered in the evening. The government has announced an ex-gratia relief of ₹4 lakh each to the kin of the deceased and ₹25,000 to the affected families,” state tribal welfare minister Satyavathi Rathod informed.

It was stated that Mulugu district received rainfall of unprecedented proportions; the highest ever recorded of 650mm in a single day on Thursday. The minister said that NDRF, local police and army personnel are looking after rescue and relief operations at the severely flooded Kondai village.

Rathod further added that the floods have left the village completely submerged, which resulted in more than 100 people being stranded without any access to food and water. He said boats were deployed to evacuate the stranded people to safety. In response to the request from the state government for assistance, army helicopters have also joined the rescue operations.

Meanwhile, three more people were feared to have been washed away at Moranchapalle village in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district, which was flooded due to rising waters of Morancha stream, officials said. The bodies of those washed away are yet to be recovered.

The water level in the Morancha stream receded by Friday morning. However, it left behind in its wake damaged houses and roads, even as the NDRF teams continued to shift villagers to safer locations.

Bhupalpally MLA Gandra Venkatramana Reddy, accompanied by other district officials visited the village on Friday morning to assess the damage and assured government support to the victims.

With around 1,500 people in Moranchapalle village affected by the floods, the district administration has set up several relief camps near the village to aid them, providing water, food and other essential items, according to Reddy.

Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has been keeping abreast of the situation in the state since Thursday morning and has kept ministers, public representatives and officials alerted about relief measures and trying to prevent further loss of life, according to a CMO release.

A total of 10,696 people from 108 villages were shifted to safer places in the state, Chief secretary A Santhi Kumari informed.

Evacuation of as many as 600 people from Moranchapalli village of Bhupalpally district was carried out, along with 19 workers stranded in a sand quarry near Gopalpur of Manthani in Peddapalli district, who were rescued and shifted to safer locations, she informed.

She added that steps are being taken to send more NDRF and other rescue teams. She also informed that four more helicopters and 10 NDRF teams have been deployed.

Director general of police (DGP) Anjani Kumar informed that National highways and other roads in 85 areas were damaged and steps are being taken with the officials of the concerned departments to repair them.

Preliminary estimates by the agriculture department revealed that crops in over 550,000 acres suffered damage with standing crops like paddy, cotton, red gram and other crops have been submerged, causing loss to farmers.

More danger was expected as a bulletin issued by the India Meteorological Department predicting that light to moderate rains and thundershowers are expected to occur at many places in the state, with isolated places over northern Telangana set to receive heavy rain in the next 48 hours.

Also Read: Manipur Viral Video: CBI Takes Over Probe Into Case, Lodges FIR

Also Watch: