Telangana: Incessant rains play havoc

Hyderabad: Heavy rains brought normal life to a standstill in many parts of Telangana on Saturday. Two persons, Durgamma 55 years, was washed away in Gubbalamangi stream, and a 30-year-old youth V Shankar was fished out in rain-related incidents in Kothagudem district and several roads and small bridges were breached in different districts.

High alert was sounded at the Kaleshwaram project as River Godavari was in a spate. Road traffic was also disrupted due tree falls on the roads in some areas in the state. According to reports, several villages and towns in Nirmal, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Siddipet and Adilabad districts were marooned in the flood water due to incessant rains. Water entered the houses and government offices in Bodhan town in Nizamabad. Civic authorities pressed into service the disaster management teams and evacuated people from the low-lying areas.

Officials said that old Nizamabad, Khammam and Adilabad districts bore the brunt of heavy rains.

Traffic disruptions were seen on Kamareddy highway in the district as trees fell on roads and bridges. Huge tree fell on the Ella Reddy- Kamareddy road at Mengaram Dargah of Lingampet mandal in Kamareddy district on Saturday morning.

Vehicular traffic was completely disrupted for more than 5 hours. People struggled hard to cross the Kappalavagu embankment which was breached in Velpur mandal of Nizamabad district.

In Karimnagar district, road connectivity between many villages was disrupted as Nakkavagu stream near Hanumajipet in Vemulawada rural mandal was overflowing. Vemulawada Rural Police put up barricades and closed the road.

With heavy inflows from the catchment areas, Irrigation officials lifted the gates at pump houses under the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation scheme. Officials said that 35 gates of Lakshmi barrage under Kaleshwaram were lifted after it received 1.15 lakh cusecs of inflows. The other Annaram barrage was also overflowing in Bhupalpally– Mulugu district. In Nalgonda district, the Musi river was brimming. Four gates were lifted to discharge heavy inflows.

All the Municipal and Panchayat officials swung into action to rescue people stranded in low-lying areas in the heavy rain hit districts. Special rescue teams were already deployed to the place.