Orange alert in Hyderabad: heavy rains causes floods in various areas of Telangana

Heavy rains in Telangana will continue till August 17, as per the latest weather warning issued by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). The IMD said that there would be very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall in the next couple of days in the state in several districts.

“Thunderstorms accompanied with lightning are very likely to occur at isolated places over Telangana. Heavy to very heavy rainfall at several places and extremely heavy rain at isolated places is very likely over Telangana,” the IMD stated

Advertisement

 During the last 24 hours, the highest rainfall of 227.5 mm was recorded in Venkatapuram of Mulugu district, according to the information given by Telangana State Development Planning Society (TSDPS).

The rains have resulted in the inundation of several low-lying areas and flood-like situation in many other parts of Warangal, Mulugu, Ranga Reddy districts and others.

With the impact of these incessant rains, several districts in the state have gone into excess and large excess mode of rainfall in their areas. Only Nirmal district is in deficit mode,  while the rest of the districts are either in normal, excess or large excess mode.

Meanwhile, there is also an orange alert issued for Hyderabad and its surrounding areas. An orange alert indicates that the concerned authorities from the municipal corporation need to be prepared to take action. And Charminar has recorded the highest rainfall of 47.8mm in the city limits.

The IMD also released an ‘impact-based forecast’ for Hyderabad, which states that there might be water logging on the roads and low-lying areas in the city besides traffic congestion at busy junctions. There are also chances of trees and electric poles falling and there could be disturbances in electricity and water supply for a few hours along with drainage clogging in Hyderabad, the weather forecasting agency said.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao sounded an alert as heavy rains triggered flood situation in some parts of the state and also directed the concerned officials to be on alert. Several tanks and canals were overflowing on Saturday due to the heavy rains lashing the state under the influence of a low pressure area off Bay of Bengal. Parts of Warangal town was inundated due to incessant rain. The local authorities launched rescue and relief operations. Local authorities shifted people from affected areas to the relief camps.

Meanwhile, 14 farmers were rescued by a helicopter of the Indian Air Force (IAF) in Jayashankar Bhupalapally district. The farmers were stuck in floodwater in Kundanpally village when they were on their fields to pump out excess water. Following a request by the state government, the Indian Air Force (IAF) sent a helicopter to airlift the farmers.

Meanwhile, the chief minister on Saturday reviewed the situation in the state at a high-level meeting held at official residence Pragati Bhavan. He spoke to Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, Director General of Police Mahender Reddy and the ministers. He conducted district wise review of the situation and made certain suggestions. He also asked the officials to set up two control Rooms in Hyderabad.