Heavy rains batter AP and Telangana; relief operations underway

Hyderabad: Relief operations are underway in Hyderabad and other places in Telangana in the wake of heavy rains that have caused inundation of low-lying areas, damage to property and also standing agriculture crops.

In Andhra Pradesh, 10 people and in Telangana, at least 19 people lost their lives in rain-related incidents following a torrential downpour in the last 48 hours.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is set to hold a meeting with ministers and officials on Thursday afternoon on the rain relief measures.

State Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar told PTI that the relief teams were working on Thursday to pump out water from localities where water stagnation was reported, to help citizens there and to restore normal traffic.

61 relief centres were operational and that more are being added wherever required.

About 1.5 lakh food packets were being supplied and Annapurna subsidised food canteens in the city were utilised in the areas where water stagnated, he said.

The relief camps would continue for a couple of days, he added.

The rainfall was unprecedented in and around Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and that the government machinery was successful in containing human loss and loss of property, he said.

An official release said the Chief Minister has instructed officials to come to the meeting convened by him with details regarding the losses suffered in their respective departments.

The meeting would discuss the rehabilitation measures taken, additional measures to be taken and the issues to be mentioned in a report to be submitted to the Centre, the release said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured all possible help to the two Telugu-speaking states.

For October, the Begumpet MET office observatory in Hyderabad recorded the highest ever rainfall of 192.1 mm on Wednesday.

In AP, for the second time in less than 20 days, the river Krishna remained swollen on Wednesday as it received heavy flood due to rainfall over the last couple of days.

Parts of Telangana, mainly Hyderabad, bore the brunt of the monsoon, even as Nalgonda and Yadadri districts too suffered.

Under the Cyberabad Police Commissionerate limits, five people went missing after they were washed away in the high flow of water, police said, adding, a search was on.

The State government declared a holiday for all government offices and private institutions on Wednesday and Thursday, even as people were advised to stay indoors unless it was an emergency.

Due to heavy inflow, 13 gates of Himayath Sagar reservoir near here were opened on Wednesday morning. Similarly, water from the Hussain Sagar lake was also being discharged after it reached the full tank level of 513.41 metres.

The Nehru Zoological Park here was closed on Wednesday and will remain shut on Thursday also for visitors due to inundation in many parts.

Police teams and personnel of the Disaster Response Force (DRF) of GHMC and NDRF evacuated several families from different localities in Hyderabad.

Army personnel launched flood relief and rescue columns in Bandlaguda area in Hyderabad on a requisition from the state government, a Defence release said.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy held a high-level meeting and reviewed the situation.

The CMO said in a release that 10 people died in rain-related incidents in the state in the last two days.

The CM ordered that ex-gratia be immediately paid to the victims' families. The amount, however, was not specified.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Modi spoke to Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao as well as Reddy and assured them of all possible support and assistance from the Centre in rescue-and-relief work.