HYDERABAD: Heavy rains lashed several parts of Telangana, including Hyderabad throwing normal life out of gear on Saturday. Though there were reports of rainwater leaving villages marooned and inundating roads and residential areas in several towns, the worst affected was the Bhainsa town in Nirmal district. Auto Nagar and Rahul Nagar localities in particular were flooded after water was released from the Gadenna Vagu project.
In Nizamabad, two cattle keepers were washed away by a strong current when they were crossing a local stream at Nemali Thanda Gutta in Lingi Thanda. According to officials, they were identified as Mekala Nadi Sailu and Darangula Reddy. The officials also said heavy rains damaged as many as 18 houses in the district.In Pothireddy village of Veenavanka manal in erstwhile Karimnagar dsitrict, a woman was electrocuted while drying clothes.
In Rajanna-Sircilla, Kasuri Ravi, 45, who went for fishing at Mallareddy tank at Gudem village of Mustabad mandal died after being trapped in the fishing net.The India Meteorological Department (IMD), meanwhile, issued a red warning for many parts of the State for Saturday and Sunday, predicting light to moderate rainfall rainfall in most places across the State. It also forecast heavy rainfall at some places and very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places.
Director of IMD, Hyderabad K Nagaratna said heavy to very heavy and extremely heavy rainfall of up to 20 cm in the northern districts in the two days. Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, meanwhile, has put the official machinery on alert. He has instructed Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar to alert all the departments concerned and to hold video conferences with district Collectors and also to alert NDRF and rescue teams in the flood prone areas.
Stating that he will review the situation from time to time, the Chief Minister also instructed the Ministers, MPs, MLAs and people’s representatives to be present in their respective areas and to help in rescue operations. The Chief Minister also urged the people not to venture out of their homes unless there is an emergency and take necessary precautions.
In the wake of heavy inflows and flooding in Godavari and Pranahitha rivers, he has also alerted the State irrigation officials and instructed them to take necessary measures to avoid any untoward incidents. In Hyderabad, the GHMC monsoon teams and Disaster Response Force (DRF) personnel were pressed into service to pump out water from low-lying areas and main roads and also to remove tree branches that fell on the roads.
TREMORS REPORTED IN TWO KARNATAKA DISTRICTS
Bagalkot/Vijayapura/Belagavi: People in parts of Bagalkot and Vijayapura woke up with a start as an earthquake of 4.4 magnitude, which was accompanied by a loud bang, hit the region early on Saturday morning. The epicentre of the quake was located at the Kannur Gram Panchayat of Vijayapura taluk at a depth of 10 km, according to the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC). Tremors of low-intensity were felt in Basavana Bagewadi, Indi, Vijayapura city.