At least 18 persons have died in Telangana in rain-related incidents in the past week, reported PTI.
Heavy rainfall in the past week have led to flooding of low-lying areas and damaged agricultural fields at several places in the state. Flash floods in northern districts have inundated over 100 villages, disrupting electricity connections and traffic. Eight persons were washed away in Mulugu district on Saturday.
State Panchayat Raj Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao said that the flood damage in Warangal town, Warangal district and Hanumakonda district was Rs 414 crore as per preliminary estimates, reported PTI.
The Godavari river breached the third and final level flood warning of 53 feet at Bhadrachalam town in Bhadradri Kothagudem district and stood at 56 feet at 10 pm on Saturday, reported PTI.
The state government has set up relief camps while rescue and rehabilitation work continue in rain-affected areas. The police are also shifting people who are ill in flood-hit regions of the state, Telangana’s Director-General of Police Anjani Kumar said in a tweet on Sunday.
He also added that nearly 19,000 people have been shifted to safer places in various districts, reported IANS.
Restoration work started in Mulugu district on Saturday with health check-ups and sanitation in water logged areas, District Collector said in a tweet.
“The authorities have been ordered to prepare full reports related to the restoration of the national highway in the district and submit it to the government, and also to take steps to restore the road without any problems for the motorists,” Tribal Welfare Minister Satyavati Rathore said in a tweet on Saturday.
Bhainsa in Nirmal district received the highest rainfall of 3 cm, the Meteorological Centre said on Saturday. Heavy rain is very likely to occur at isolated places in the districts of Adilabad, Komaram Bheem Asifabad, Mancherial, Nirmal, Jagityal, Rajanna Sirsilla, Jayashankar Bhupalapally, Mulugu, Bhadradri Kothagudem on August 1 according to weather department.
A red alert was issued in eight districts of the state by the India Meteorological Department from July 25 to July 27. These included Khammam, Nalgonda, Suryapet, Mahabubabad, Janagaon, Siddipet, Yadadri Bhuvanagari and Hyderabad. The warning was reduced to an orange alert on Friday.
A red alert signals extremely heavy rainfall and urges authorities to take action, while an orange alert is for heavy to very heavy rain and asks authorities to remain alert.
Families of the deceased will be provided financial assistance of Rs 4 lakh and Rs 25,000 will be released immediately, Rathore said.
Meanwhile, an inter-ministerial central team will visit Telangana on July 31 to assess the damage caused by floods in the state, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Telangana president G Kishan Reddy said in a tweet.
The team will be led by National Disaster Management Authority advisor Kunal Satyarthi and will consist of representatives from the ministries of agriculture, finance, Jal Shakti, power, road transport and highways and National Remote Sensing Centre.
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