Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 1: At least nine people have been killed and train services badly affected and normal life came to near standstill as torrential rains hit Hyderabad and many parts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on Sunday causing severe water-logging in many areas, submerging houses and cars.
Heavy rains and waterlogging over the tracks at several locations along the South Central Railway (SCR) network have caused as many as 99 trains to be cancelled. Four trains were partially cancelled while 54 trains were diverted, an SCR official said. The SCR official said over the past 24 hours, there has been flooding and breaches in Kazipet to Vijayawada section and five trains in that section were stranded even as officials moved 15 trains via a diverted path.
About 20 trains were stopped at various stations between AP and Telangana and thousands of passengers were struck as a result of floods on Sunday. The SCR has shifted the passengers and arranged special trains to transport the stranded passengers to Chennai, Tirupati and Visakhapatnam, said the Vijayawada Senior Divisional Commercial Manager (Sr. DCM), V. Rambabu.
Union Minister Bandi Sanjay Kumar in a post on ‘X’ said, “Informed Hon’ble Union Home Minister Shri @AmitShah ji about the severe situation in Telangana’s Khammam & that 110 villages in the district have been submerged, 9 people are stranded on Prakash Nagar hillock, 68 people on Azmeera Thanda hillock in Palair constituency, and 42 others are trapped on buildings.” He also said that following the Home Minister’s orders, nine NDRF teams, three each from Chennai, Visakhapatnam, and Assam, have been dispatched to Telangana.
In Andhra Pradesh, Ambapuram, Nainavaram, Nunna, and Pathapadu villages in Vijayawada Rural Mandal have been completely submerged. Police and NDRF teams have initiated rescue and relief operations, relocating affected residents to rehabilitation centres.
The depression over north Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha coasts been causing heavy rainfall in these two states over the past two days. It has moved northwestwards to cross the southern state’s coast near Kalingapatnam in the early hours of Sunday, India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
“Depression over South Odisha and adjoining South Chhattisgarh and north Andhra Pradesh about 60 km southeast of Jagdalpur, 70 km northeast of Malkangiri. Likely to move across South Odisha, South Chhattisgarh and Vidarbha and weaken into Well Marked Low Pressure Area during next 24 hours,” the weather office said in a post. The weather office, however, said cyclone “Asna,” a deep depression over the Arabian Sea, was expected to move West-Northwest away from the Indian coast in the next 24 hours.
The AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu 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. Andhra Pradesh Home Minister Vangalapudi Anitha said 13,227 people were evacuated from 294 villages in five districts.
“Until now nine people 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,” Mr Anitha said in an official release.
In Andhra Pradesh’s NTR district, passengers were stranded at the station since Saturday night after officials halted the Tamil Nadu Express due to heavy floods in Rayanapadu village. Authorities had to send passengers to Vijayawada via RTC buses in the morning. However, when the flood situation did not improve, the railway staff brought passengers to the Hyderabad-Vijayawada national highway using tractors and JCBs from the station.
Rain also crippled normal life in Telangana as torrential rain causing severe waterlogging. Following the heavy rains, rivulets were in spate in some districts and the floodwaters disrupted road links between villages. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy held an emergency review with ministers, officials and elected members to review the situation. He directed the ministers, MPs, MLAs and MLCs to stay in their respective areas and take up relief operations.
In Telangana’s Mahabubabad, a young scientist was found dead after being washed away in floodwaters. Dr Nunavath Ashwini was associated with the ICAR – National Institute of Biotic Stress Management’s School of Crop Resistance System Research of Raipur. Search and rescue operations are underway to find her missing father.
In NagarKurnool, a policeman braved heavy rainfall and rescued a man who was washed away and trapped in Naganool creek. An RTC bus and a car were submerged in flood on road in Mahbubabad and with the help of JCB crane, the cops rescued the people trapped in the bus.
Movement of traffic came to a halt on Hyderabad-Vijayawada highway as flood water submerged the highway near Suryapet in Telangana. Water from overflowing tanks inundated part of National Highway 65, bringing vehicular traffic to a halt.
Heavy rains have been lashing Nalgonda and Suryapet districts since Saturday, inundating low-lying areas and cutting off road links to some villages. Water from overflowing tanks and lakes entered residential areas in Huzurnagar and Kodad constituencies. Rainwater also entered houses in Khammam and Nalgonda districts.
The met office has issued a red alert for 11 districts in Telangana. Extremely heavy rainfall is likely at isolated places in these districts over the next 24 hours, the met office said on Sunday. The Government has issued a flash flood risk warning for 19 districts of the State. A red alert has been issued across nine districts. An orange alert has been issued in 12 districts. The districts under red alert are Adilabad, Nirmal, Nizamabad, Kamareddy, Mahabubnagar, Nagarkurnool, Wanaparthy, Narayanpet, and Jogulamba Gadwal.