HYDERABAD: Heavy rain continued to lash several parts of Telangana on Thursday, inundating low-lying areas, disrupting road connectivity in the northern districts and filling reservoirs across the state, while the IMD retained a red alert for extremely heavy rainfall.
Jannaram mandal in Mancherial district recorded 16.3 cm of rainfall, Beerpur in Jagtial 14.9 cm and Talamadugu in Adilabad 13.1 cm. Fourteen districts recorded more than 10 cm of rainfall during the day. Over the previous 24 hours, Bajjur in Komaram Bheem Asifabad received 18.8 cm, while Jaipur, Jannaram and Bellampalle mandals in Mancherial district recorded between 15.5 cm and 17.1 cm.
The widespread rain over the past three days has reduced Telangana’s seasonal rainfall deficit to 11%.
The downpour affected several districts. In Adilabad and neighbouring districts, floodwater flowed over low-level bridges, cutting off road connectivity to several villages. Traffic between Adilabad and Chandrapur in Maharashtra was diverted after water flowed over a bridge near Tharnam village. District administrations deployed disaster response teams, established control rooms and declared holidays for educational institutions in several districts.
In Bhadradri Kothagudem, the Godavari continued to rise, touching 27.8 feet at Bhadrachalam compared with 16 feet a day earlier. Authorities began releasing surplus water from upstream reservoirs and warned people against venturing near rivers and streams. The rainfall has also improved inflows into reservoirs across Telangana.
For the first time this season, 10 spillway gates of the Priyadarshini Jurala Project were opened after inflows touched 90,000 cusecs. Nearly 77,000 cusecs of water was released downstream towards Srisailam, while irrigation releases to various lift schemes continued.
The twin reservoirs supplying Hyderabad also received fresh inflows. Himayatsagar was receiving about 400 cusecs, while Osmansagar recorded an inflow of around 150 cusecs. Officials said the crest gates of both reservoirs remained closed and that water levels were under constant monitoring.
In Nizamabad, inflows into the SRSP increased to about 75,000 cusecs following heavy rainfall in Nirmal district and upstream areas of Maharashtra. Local tanks and streams also received fresh inflows.
The IMD said the weather is being influenced by a deep depression over central India, supported by the monsoon trough and an east-west shear zone, resulting in widespread rainfall over Telangana. Heavy rain is likely to continue over northern districts on Friday before gradually easing from Saturday, with light to moderate showers expected thereafter.
People were urged to avoid waterlogged roads and overflowing streams, while district officials were asked to remain on alert for localised flooding.