Heavy rain battered Telangana districts of Adilabad, Nizamabad, Warangal, Mahabubnagar and Khammam for the second day on Wednesday with the trough of low pressure that had formed over main land from Chhattisgarh to Tamil Nadu making the southwest monsoon vigorous.
Though a few coastal Andhra districts too received rains, they were not much compared to downpour in Telangana districts. Squally weather prevailed in coastal districts with winds blowing at a speed of 50 kmph throughout the day. Flights to Rajahmundry from Hyderabad were cancelled.
Several places in north Telangana districts were pounded by heavy rain throwing normal life out of gear. Rivulets and streams are in spate, inundating villages and cutting of road transport. Coal production was affected in Singareni Collieries with water-logging at Manuguru in Khammam district.
Though no fresh loss of life has been reported, the rains have so far claimed the lives of eight persons - one each in Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad, four in Karimnagar and two in Khammam. According to the disaster management department, the rainfall (246.3 mm) was 20 per cent excess than normal of 205.7 mm this monsoon season till now.
Adilabad and Nizamabad districts received torrential rains and there was no let up. Rivers - Penganga and Pranahita - are in spate in Adilabad, cutting off road transport to several villages. Pranahita was in spate at Bejjur leading to water-logging of villages along its course. Similarly, Penganga is also in spate submerging Udikili bridge. This led to disruption in vehicular traffic to Maharashtra.
In Nizamabad district too, there was no let up. Nizamabad town was badly affected by the rain with knee-deep water collecting in two colonies. In Yellareddypalli in Darpalli mandal, canals have breached.
There was a steady inflow of flood waters into Nizamsagar project forcing the authorities to let water go down stream.
Heavy rains lashed Khammam district as a result of which the rivulets and streams are swelling. Three policemen while crossing swollen Sanka vagu in Venkatapuram mandal were swept away but a little later they could swim ashore safe but lost their firearms in the stream.
In Manuguru, the torrential rains have disrupted coal production in the mines of the Singareni Collieries Company Limited. According to sources, about 48,000 tonnes of could not be produced because of water-logging.
The continuous rains in twin Godavari districts since Tuesday dislocated transportation. In some areas paddy crop was submerged in rain water. The agriculture department in both the districts have not yet estimated the crop loss.
Meanwhile, the discharge at Sir Arthur Cotton barrage at Dowleswaram was four lakh cusecs this evening. All the 175 barrage gates have been lifted to a height of one metre in Dowleswaram, Bobbarlanka, Maddur and Vijjeswaram arms.
Incessant rains have been lashing Prakasam district for the last two days encouraging farmers to take up agriculture operations. All the 56 mandals of the district were experiencing drought like situation till recently.
As per agriculture officials, farmers will cultivate paddy, Bengalgram, cotton, maize, and other crops in 2,18,315 hectares in the district for this kharif season.
As many as 3.43 lakh marginal farmers, 1.49 small farmers and 5.10 lakh labourers were engaged in agriculture in the district.