One dead, 1 missing in Telangana downpour; red alert for several districts
Due to heavy rain, a house wall collapsed in Kamareddy district, killing a doctor while another person who was stranded in the flood waters is missing
Heavy rain in Kamareddy, Medak, and other districts of Telangana on Wednesday (August 27) inundated low-lying areas leaving many people stranded, and resulted in the death of one person.
Kamareddy bore the brunt of the rains, with Argonda in the district receiving 418.3 mm of rainfall from 8.30 am to 9 pm on Wednesday, followed by 302.5 mm of rain at Akkapur in Nirmal district. Rescue operations are underway.
Union Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay Kumar urged Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to deploy IAF choppers to rescue about 30 people stranded in flood waters in Kamareddy and Rajanna-Sircilla districts.
According to a statement released by Sanjay Kumar, Singh responded positively to his request and the former's office asked defence officials at Hakimpet in Hyderabad to deploy an IAF helicopter for the rescue operation.
An NDRF team was halted at Ghanapur, Medak district due to a flooded road. Photo: X | NDRFHQ
Also Read: IAF, Army rescue 800 people as J-K, Punjab grapple with devastating floods
Doctor dies
According to the police, a Registered Medical Practitioner (RMP) was killed in Kamareddy district after his house wall collapsed. Another person, who was stranded in flood waters in the district, was missing. In Kamareddy over 500 people were shifted to safer places, a police personnel said.
An official release mentioned that as many as 1,071 people would be moved to safer places in the district. Food was arranged for about 1,000 people in Kamareddy. Low-lying areas in Kamareddy were inundated and National Highway 44 was jammed for about 30 kms in the district following the heavy rain.
In Medak district, around 440 people were shifted to safer places.
Rescue operations underway
Earlier, on Wednesday, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy asked Chief Secretary K Ramakrishna Rao to take the help of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) personnel in carrying out relief operations.
The Chief Secretary said senior IAS officers would be appointed as special officers for different districts to supervise relief operations. A 24/7 control room has been set up in the Secretariat to monitor the rain situation, he said. The government has deployed NDRF personnel in Kamareddy and Nirmal districts to undertake relief operations, while State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams are being sent to Medak, Kamareddy, and Nirmal districts, he said.
State Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and other ministers also reviewed the rain situation with officials. The ministers said the government is taking measures to prevent loss of life and property, according to a release.
The Revenue Minister told the officials to create a breach in a canal parallel to the river to release excess water from the Pocharam dam in Medak district.
Also Read: Punjab floods: Rescue efforts intensified, boats used to evacuate people
Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy monitors the recent rain development. Photo: X/@TelanganaCMO
Red alert to several districts
The meteorological centre of IMD in Hyderabad issued a red alert. It forecast very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places in Medak, Kamareddy, and other districts from 13.00 hours of Wednesday to 08.30 hours of Thursday.
It further warned that heavy to very heavy rainfall is very likely to occur at isolated places in several other districts during the same period.
As many educational institutes in Medak were flooded, district collector Rahul Raj declared a holiday for all educational institutions on Thursday (August 28).