With the India Meteorological Department predicting heavy to heavy rainfall in the next two days chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has asked the state administration to be on high alert as most of the rivers, streams and rivulets are already in spate due to heavy rains lashing the state for the past few days. Many of the district towns have already been flooded, roads to villages cut off and people had to be shifted from their homes in low lying areas to safe shelters by district administration.
The chief minister is in Delhi currently but held a teleconference with officials during the day and reviewed the situation. He also spoke to chief secretary Somesh Kumar who is in touch with district collectors and other officials.
Telangana has been receiving copious amount of rainfall this monsoon and for the past few days a low pressure area in Bay of Bengal have contributed to heavy rains. A red alert was issued for five districts including Peddapally. Bhadradri Kothagudem, Jayashankar Bhupalapally, Mulugu and Khammam for today. IMD has also issued red alert for tomorrow for districts like Adilabad, Kumaram Bheem Asifabad, Nirmal and Nizamabad. In fact irrigation projects in erstwhile Adilabad district have already received copious flows from upstream.
Districts like Rajanna-Sircilla, Warangal and Khammam have been witnessing incessant rain and consequently severe flooding. Water entered several residential colonies and roads have been cut-off. Karimnagar city was also badly flooded with cars floating away and roads submerged. State minister Gangula Kamalakar visited the low lying areas and promised to drain out the floodwater as soon as possible. The road between Vemulwada and Karimnagar was cut-off due to heavy rains while an under construction bridge over Mula Vagu river along with its scaffolding collapsed due to torrential rain. The bridge was being built at the cost of Rs 28 crore. In Sircilla police personnel rescued 150 people after their houses were marooned. The mini Tank Bund has overflowed. Water entered the newly constructed district collectorate as well as the bus terminus complex. Teams of Disaster Response Force in Hyderabad has been sent to Sircilla for rescue operations.
The chief minister directed the officials to assess the impact of the heavy rains on power supply, roads and other infrastructure and take decisions. The NDRf and disaster management teams have been kept on standby. Elected representatives too have been asked to be present in their respective constituencies and coordinate with official in providing relief measures.