Heavy rains lash Telangana, one dead in Kamareddy district

Hyderabad, Aug 27 (PTI) A person died when the wall of his house collapsed, while another went missing following heavy rains in Kamareddy, Medak and other districts of Telangana on Wednesday.

The downpour led to inundation of low-lying areas at several places.

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 rain at Akkapur in Nirmal district.

Widespread rainfall was reported in the state, as per the rainfall data of Telangana Development Planning Society.

Union Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay Kumar urged Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to deploy choppers of IAF to rescue about 30 people stranded in flood waters in Kamareddy and Rajanna-Sircilla districts, a release from Kumar's office said.

Singh responded positively to the request and the former's office asked defence officials at Hakimpet in Hyderabad to deploy an IAF helicopter for the rescue operation, it said.

According to police, the person who died after in wall collapse in Kamareddy district was a Registered Medical Practitioner (RMP).

Another person, who was stranded in flood waters in the district, was missing, an official release said.

Meanwhile, a police official said rescue operations were underway in the district and over 500 people were shifted to safer places.

As many as 1,071 people would be moved to safer places in the district, an official release said. Food was arranged for about 1,000 people in Kamareddy.

Low-lying areas were inundated and National Highway 44 was jammed for about 30 kms in the district following the heavy rain.

Around 440 people were shifted to safer places in Medak district, an official release said.

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.

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.

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 here 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.

The Met Centre of IMD here issued a Red warning that very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall is very likely to occur at isolated places in Medak, Kamreddy and other districts from 1300 hours of Wednesday to 0830 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. PTI SJR VVK SJR ROH