Hyderabad: Lighting claimed the life of a farmer in Khammam district even as rains battered many districts amid heavy downpour and thunderstorms on Wednesday.

The IMD has forecast heavy to very heavy rains for another five days under the influence of a trough.

In his immediate response, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, put the entire state administration on high alert and urged them to tackle all rain-related incidents in double-quick time.

The erstwhile Mahbubnagar and Adilabad districts bore the brunt with submergence of low-lying areas and huge damages to standing crops. The road network was damaged, while small structures that preserve water were breached due to heavy inflows into the canals in some districts.

Officials said that rainwater had flooded the paddy procurement centres. They are in the process of shifting food grains that have been stocked to safer places. Water logging in procurement centres caused a big worry for the farmers in old Mahbubnagar district where purchase of harvested crops has been going on at a brisk pace for the last three days.

Incessant overnight rains in Jogulamba–Gadwal and Narayanpet districts have put the district officials on tenterhooks. With several low-lying areas in floods, disaster management personnel have been pressed into service to take up rescue operations.

In erstwhile Nizamabad, officials said that Lingampet, Banswada, Ibrahimpet and Tirumalapur villages were badly impacted by strong winds and heavy rains. Heavy flows covered roads in Banswada district, and the situation was made worse in the morning when heavy winds uprooted trees and electric poles. Damage to crops and cattle deaths due to lightning were reported in the old Khammam district. A farmer, working in the fields, was struck by lightning in Yellandu revenue division in the district. Damage of paddy stocks were also reported in Chunchupalli and Mulkalapalli mandals due to flooding.

Meanwhile, IMD has warned of heavy rains in Karimnagar, Peddapalli, Jayashankar Bhupalpally, Mulugu, Vikarabad, Sangareddy, Mahabubnagar, Nagarkurnool, Wanaparthy, Narayanpet, and Jogulamba Gadwal districts.

Thunderstorms with gusty winds reaching 30–40 kmph are likely across Telangana, including Hyderabad in the next three days.

An orange alert has been issued for Thursday in northern and central districts of Adilabad, Komaram Bheem Asifabad, Nirmal, Mancherial, Jagtial, Nizamabad, Peddapalli, Kamareddy, Rajanna Sircilla, Karimnagar, Medak, Wanaparthy, Mahabubnagar, and Nagarkurnool.

The Chief Minister has instructed district collectors to take appropriate preventive measures to save paddy stockpiled at procurement centres and market yards from getting wet. Officials were directed to shift paddy soon after weighing to rice mills and take safety measures in low-lying areas without causing inconvenience to the locals.

In view of rains in Hyderabad city, Revanth Reddy urged the GHMC, police, HYDRAA, and electricity departments to work in coordination. Chief Secretary K Ramakrishna Rao has been asked to review the situation from time to time.