After heavy rainfall lashed several parts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, killing several and causing extensive damages to properties.
Published Sep 01, 2024 | 6:17 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 01, 2024 | 6:17 PM
Nagarjuna Sagar left canal flooded. (Screengrab)
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy held review meetings on Sunday, 1 September with the disaster response forces and other officials given the floods caused by heavy rains in both the states.
Meanwhile, the depression over north Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha coasts, which has been causing heavy rainfall over the past two days, moved northwestwards to cross Andhra Pradesh’s coast near Kalingapatnam in the wee hours of 1 September and several places in Andhra Pradesh are expected to receive more rains, including heavy rainfall in some places.
D over N AP & S Odisha coasts moved WNWwards and lay centered over S Odisha and adjoin N AP, about 90 km NNW of Visakhapatnam , 120 km W of Kalingapatnam , 120 km E of Malkangiri. It is likely to move WNWwards across S Odisha, S Chhattisgarh and weaken into a WML IN next 24 hrs pic.twitter.com/tUtEtOEDIP
— India Meteorological Department (@Indiametdept) September 1, 2024
Parts of Srikakulam, Vijayanagaram, Parvatipuram Manyam, Alluri Sitarama Raju, Kakinada and Nandyala districts are likely to receive heavy rainfall, said an official release.
Light showers are predicted at some places in Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli, Konaseema, East Godavari, West Godavari and other districts, along with some places in the Rayalaseema region.
In Telangana, the Met department predicted, very heavy to extremely heavy rain is very likely to occur at isolated places in Adilabad, Nirmal, Nizamabad, Kamareddy, Mahabubnagar, Nagarkurnool, Wanaparthy, Narayanpet, Jogulamba Gadwal, Mahbubabad, Jangaon districts of Telangana for 24 hours from 8.30 am of Sunday till 8.30 am of 2 September.
Naidu reviewed the weather situation with senior officials and asked them to incorporate technologies such as drones to assess the deluge and accordingly plan the relief works. The chief minister, who reviewed the weather situation with senior officials, was apprised that 6,000 people living downstream of Prakasam Barrage in Bapatla district were evacuated.
In a teleconference with officials, Naidu observed that the intensity of rain has subsided on Sunday, compared to August 31, quoting information from the districts. However, he observed that some colonies and houses are still waterlogged. Directing officials to divert water from inundated roadways, he tasked them to solve the flooding issues plaguing colonies and houses.
Stating that some places received up to 27 cm of rainfall, the CM instructed officials to focus on these areas. Home Minister Vangalapudi Anitha stated that 13,227 people were evacuated from 294 villages in five districts due to torrential downpours in the past two days.
She further noted that 100 rehabilitation centres were set up in NTR, Krishna, Bapatla, Guntur and Palnadu districts to accommodate the evacuees, along with the arrangement of 61 medical camps.
“Until now nine people have died due to the heavy rains. Police, NDRF and SDRF teams rescued 600 people from the marooned places. As many as 17 NDRF and SDRF teams undertook rescue operations at 22 submerged places in seven districts,” she said in an official release.
Citing preliminary estimates, Anitha said 62,644 hectares of paddy crops and 7,218 hectares of orchards are submerged due to heavy rain. Further, she highlighted that the command and control rooms and toll free numbers were set up in all the districts, along with the appointment of nodal officers to monitor the situation.
Meanwhile, Andhra CM noted that the state hasn’t witnessed such record rainfall in the past 50 years. “Even national highways turned into ponds due to the unprecedented deluge. Write a letter to the National Highways Authority (NHAI) and work in coordination with it,” he directed officials, according to a release.
Advising officials to incorporate technologies such as drones to assess the deluge and accordingly plan the relief work, Naidu instructed them to be careful of food and water contamination that could occur due to the floods. He also instructed officials to take clean up works in the villages, divert flood waters from residential areas as soon as possible and also undertake sanitisation to avoid disease outbreaks.
Civil Supplies Minister N Manohar informed the CM that rice and some basic necessities were provided to people in need in some areas. Following the subsidence of floods, Naidu called for a survey of crop loss, asset destruction and effective distribution of aid to farmers.
The CM estimated that up to 10 lakh cusecs of water could be discharged from Prakasam Barrage in Vijayawada by Sunday evening, directing officials to alert downstream villagers and evacuate them.
The weather system crossed near Kalingapatnam between 12.30 am and 2.30 am and currently lay centred over south Odisha and adjoining north Andhra Pradesh, about 90 km north to northwest of Visakhapatnam and 120 km east of Malkangiri. “It is likely to move west-north-west across south Odisha and south Chhattisgarh to weaken into a well-marked low-pressure area during the next 24 hours,” an IMD official said in a press release.
On the other hand, heavy rains are likely to continue in a few parts of Telangana in the next 48 hours. During the last 24 hours, exceptionally heavy rainfall (37–40 cms) occurred at isolated places in the Mahabubabad district of Telangana.
While, extremely heavy rainfall (22-35 cms) occurred at isolated places in Bhadradri Kothagudem, Jangaon, Kamareddy, Khammam, Mahabubabad, Mulugu, Suryapet, and Warangal districts of the state.
Meanwhile, the death toll has reached five in Telangana, as a man and his daughter— Nunawat Motilal and his daughter, Nunawat Ashwini—an agricultural scientist, were reportedly swept away as Akeru Vagu overflowed in Maripeda Mandal in the state’s Mahabubabad district. The father-daughter duo were on their way to catch a flight from Hyderabad airport to Bengaluru.
Another person, Nagam Ravi, a resident of Kodada, Suryapet died when two cars were swept into a canal at Bharti Public School in Kodada on Sunday. Tourist spots like Bogatha and Laknavaram in Mulugu district have been closed for 48 hours as a precaution. Fishermen and devotees have been advised to postpone their activities until the weather improves.
Meanwhile, a big hole in the left canal of Nagarjunasagar flooded hundreds of acres of farmland in the Nandigudem Mandal of Suryapet District. Evacuation efforts are underway in the nearby villages and the Nagarjunasagar project officials have stopped releasing water to the left canal.
Given the heavy inflow into the irrigation projects, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy ordered the officials of the state irrigation department to take necessary measures to store the heavy inflows in the reservoirs for future needs. They enquired the officials about the discharge of flood water from the projects. The irrigation authorities have been asked to store water in the ponds, reservoirs and other water bodies in the limits of the projects.
Heavy rains have caused the Sripada Yellampally project in Peddapalli district to fill up almost completely. The project’s gates have been opened to release water into the Godavari River. Officials have been instructed to release at least one TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of water per day from Yellampally.
The Chief Minister has suggested using the Nandi and Gayatri Pump Houses to help fill up other reservoirs. Water will be transferred to the Mid Manair and Lower Manair Dams, as well as Ranganayak Sagar and Mallanna Sagar reservoirs.
Currently, Yellampally’s capacity is 20 TMC, and it already holds 18.45 TMC. Due to increased inflows at the Kadem project, water will also be moved from the Gayatri pump to the Mid Manair Dam, which has a capacity of 27 TMC and currently holds 15 TMC.
Officials are instructed to move over 14,000 cusecs of water from Mid Manair to the Lower Manair Dam. Additionally, 6400 cusecs of water will be moved from the Annapurna reservoir to the Ranganayak Sagar reservoir.
Mallanna Sagar and Konchapochamma to be filled
Water will then be pumped from Ranganayak Sagar to Mallanna Sagar and Kondapochamma Sagar to fill these reservoirs. The Mallanna Sagar has a capacity of 50 TMC and currently holds 11.43 TMC. The Kondapochamma Sagar has a capacity of 15 TMC and holds 7.91 TMC. The Chief Minister has advised that Kondapochamma Sagar can safely store up to 18-20 TMC of water, and Mallanna Sagar should aim to store 10 TMC.
The Chief Minister also reminded officials to handle the water storage carefully and instructed that water should be lifted to the Nizam Sagar Dam from Kondapochamma Sagar through Haldi Vagu.
Following the torrential rains, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy held an emergency review with ministers, officials and elected members.
Reddy, who reviewed the situation in the rain-affected areas, spoke to ministers – Bhatti Vikramarka, N Uttam Kumar Reddy, Tummala Nageshwar Rao, Damodara Raja Narasimha and Jupalli Krishna Rao over the phone and enquired about the relief operations in the submerged areas.
The chief minister held a teleconference with top officials and the Chief Secretary, DGP and the officials of the State Municipal Administration, Energy, Panchayati Raj, HYDRAA, and Irrigation departments were asked to be alert in the next 24 hours.
Reddy ordered district Collectors, SPs, Revenue, Irrigation and Municipal officials to conduct field visits in the flood-hit habitations.
Specific instructions have been issued to all officials of the important departments to cancel their leaves and join relief and rescue operations immediately in the rain-ravaged districts, the release said.
The schools in Hyderabad district also have declared a holiday on 2 September.
Due to the forecast of heavy rains in Hyderabad District, all Primary and Secondary Schools, under all managements (Government, Aided, and Private), are hereby declared a holiday on Monday, 02-09-2024, as a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of the children.
Collector
— Collector Hyderabad (@Collector_HYD) September 1, 2024
The officials of the emergency wings have also been asked to send updates on heavy rains at the field level to the CMO’s office from time to time. The authorities are instructed to take immediate relief measures in the flood-hit areas.
The chief minister appealed to people not to venture out of their homes unless in an emergency. Citizens living in low-lying areas are advised to be more vigilant and inform the authorities over the phone in case of an emergency or any assistance required, the release said.
The CM directed the ministers, MPs, MLAs and MLCs to stay in their respective areas and take up relief operations. A control room was opened at the state Secretariat to monitor heavy rains in the state, an official release said.
#TelanganaRains: Deputy Chief Minister @Bhatti_Mallu is on ground in Khammam district overseeing the relief work. Over a call, he requested the chief secretary to send a helicopter to rescue those trapped in Khammam city due to Munneru Vagu flood. pic.twitter.com/oewbkDrDNL
— South First (@TheSouthfirst) September 1, 2024
(Edited by Sumavarsha Kandula, with inputs from Sumit Jha and Saicharan Sana)
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