WARANGAL/SIDDIPET/NIZAMABAD: About 125 families were shifted from the NTR Nagar Colony to safety after rainwater inundated it in Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation (GWMC) limits on Tuesday.
Of them, 70 were shifted to a temporary rehabilitation centre at Santhoshimata Function Hall.
GWMC Commissioner Rizwanshaik Basha said that the remaining families had gone to the home of their relatives. “We are providing food and drinking water at the relief centre,” said Basha.
After a heavy downpour, the historic Bhadrakali Lake and Waddepally tank overflowed in the city. The GWMC requisitioned the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams to help people living in low-lying areas. The GWMC teams were deployed in low-lying areas to divert flood water into nalas.
Panchayat Raj Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao, Government Chief Whip Dasyam Vinay Bhaskar, Warangal East MLA Nannapuneni Narender, Wardhannapet MLA Aroori Ramesh, Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation (GWMC) Mayor Gundu Sudha Rani, Hanamkonda District Collector Sikta Patnaik and Warangal District Collector P Pravinya inspected the flood affected areas.
Dayakar Rao instructed the GWMC authorities to be alert in their respective areas and ensure the citizens did not face any troubles. A control room has been set up at the GWMC headquarters. The civic Officials advised the citizens to provide information by calling the special toll-free number 1800 425 1980 and WhatsApp numbers 7997100300 and 9701999645.
Due to heavy rains, roads have been damaged, and drains are overflowing. The streams are in spate. The roads in the erstwhile Warangal district breached, causing traffic snarls on the Warangal-Khammam National Highway No 563 at Panthini village.
According to the information reaching here, road connectivity to 30 villages has been cut with flood waters from tanks and streams overflowing the roads. Tanks in Chennaraopet, Akeru Vagu and Kapulakanaparthy breached leading to disruption in transportation to Sangem Mandal in Warangal district, Panthini village and Damera Mandal in Hanamkonda district.
Eruvaka Vagu and Paleru Vagu in Purushotham Gudem in Maripeda Mandal, Ravirala village bridge in Nellikuduru Mandal, Peddamupparam village in Danthalapalle Mandal in Mahabubabad district overflowed the roads.
Drivers of small vehicles found it hard to travel on the flooded Lingala Ghanpur-Narsampet road. The local police erected barricades and diverted the vehicles from other routes to reach their destinations.
Warangal Collector P Pravinya said that there was heavy rainfall in Geesugonda and Sangem mandals and 70 per cent of 850 tanks in the district were overflowing.
Meanwhile, Tribal Welfare Minister Satyavathi Rathod inspected the Erukava Vagu in Maripeda Mamdal which overflowed. Bogatha, Mutyaladara Jalapatham, and Kongala waterfalls in Wazeedu mandal of Mulugu district and Phakala, Ramappa, and Laknavaram lakes received heavy inflows.
Meanwhile, the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) is receiving huge inflows. As many as 75 gates of the Lakshmi Barrage at Medigadda have been opened. The inflow and outflow through the Godavari and Pranahita rivers is 5,79,730 cusecs. The Sammakka Barrage (Tupakulagudem) received as much as 7,87,050 cusecs of inflows.
Vehicles diverted
Siddipet district received heavy rain for one and half hours due to which, the Moi Tummeda stream on the Husnabad -Hanmakonda road in Siddipet district is in spate. The police stopped the movement of vehicles and diverted the traffic through Pothireddypally. All the ponds in the district are overflowing due to the rains for the last three days.
According to official estimations, around 100 houses have been partially damaged and 60 fully in the district. Collectors of Siddipet, Medak, and Sangareddy districts Prashanthi Jeevan Patil, Rajarshi Shah, and A Sharath respectively have alerted the officials as there is scope for further heavy rains. Control rooms have been set up in all the collectorates.
463.5 mm rainfall
Heavy rain lashed several parts of Nizamabad and Kamareddy districts during the last 24 hours.
For the first time in 100 years, Velpur received more than 43 cm of rainfall in six hours on Tuesday. Surprised by this, locals were worried that such heavy rain did not bode well for the crops in the two districts.
In the Nizamabad district heavy rainfall was reported in five rainfall zones Velpur (463.5 mm), Perkit (331.0 mm), Bheemgal (264.5 mm), Konasamumdar (226.5 mm), and Jakranpally (222.0mm).
A rainfall of 172.3 mm was reported in Koratpally. As many as 13 places experienced heavy rainfall while moderate rainfall was reported in 28 places, and light rainfall, from four places.
Due to the heavy rainfall, local tanks overflowed and one tank breached in Velpur inundating low-lying areas. Water entered the local police station and MRO office premises and Rytu Vedika premises as well.
Several agricultural fields were also submerged in the water. Local roads have been damaged. Road transportation was disrupted between Bhemgal and Armoor. Several lakes are overflowing in Kammarpally, Morthad, Dharpally, and Sirikonda areas.
State Roads & Buildings Minister Vemula Prashanthreddy and district collector Rajiv Gandhi Hanhamthu toured Velpur and inspected rain damages. Speaking to reporters Prashanth Reddy said that Velpur did not receive such extreme rainfall in the past 100 years.