A two-day holiday has been declared for schools and colleges situated in the rain-hit district in Telangana. Naina, the Kamareddy district collector, ordered a two-day holiday for all schools and colleges on August 29 and 30 due to continuous showers. This directive applies to government, private, junior, and degree colleges.
The same Kamareddy district received the second-highest recorded rainfall today in Telangana in over a century. Heavy rainfall in Kamareddy and Medak districts of Telangana has also triggered flash floods on Wednesday, October 27. Rain has led to the inundation of a few towns and villages, bringing roads and rail tracks between Hyderabad and Kamareddy to a halt. Water flow from rivulets, streams, and lakes flooded railways, highways, and residential areas, trapping several people.
Farmers and other workers were also caught in the overflowing streams, waiting to be rescued. People in a few marooned villages have taken shelter on rooftops after the reservoirs in the area started to overflow. For instance, the Pocharam reservoir in Nagi Reddypet mandal on the border between Nizamabad and Medak districts was overflowing, causing a flood threat. Officials suggest that the reservoir received massive inflow from upstream due to heavy rainfall since Tuesday night. Now the reservoir is overflowing by about 8 feet with about 1.30 lakh cusecs of water flowing above the reservoir. The same water has inundated the Medak–Yellareddy highway, bringing traffic to a halt.
In the same area, a farmer went missing while five others were trapped in Uppar Manu near Gambhiraopet in Rajanna Sircilla district. They had gone to graze cattle but were stranded by the flood. The Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, got in touch with one of the trapped persons over the phone and assured full support to rescue them.
Collector Sandeep Kumar Jha and SP Mahesh B. Gite said that essential food items were delivered using drones. Rescue operations by the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) team were ensured through drone delivery.
Another physician died in a wall collapse in Kamareddy district. A car was washed away in a stream in Haveli Ghanpur mandal in Medak district. The SDRF team rescued the man who was driving the car. Because of such instances, authorities have suspended vehicular movement between Hyderabad and Nizamabad since water is flowing over National Highway 44 at Narsingi in Medak district.
The floodwater has also drowned the tracks on the Bhiknoor–Talmandla section and Akanpet–Path Medak section of the Hyderabad division. Parts of Kamareddy town are also flooded. Television visuals show how cars are getting washed away in the town and floodwater is entering houses in some areas. Authorities have shifted people from low-lying colonies to safer places. People in Komattipalli village in Lingampet mandal of Kamareddy district have climbed up the roofs.
Record High Rainfall
Rajampet in Kamareddy district received record rainfall of 41.83 cm between 8:30 AM and 5 PM on Wednesday. Telangana Development Planning Society said Reddy received 28 cm rainfall, Haveli Ghanpur in Medak district recorded 26.13 cm, Bhiknoor in Kamareddy district received 23.8 cm, and 20 other places in Kamareddy, Karimnagar, Rajanna Sircilla, and Siddipet districts recorded up to 20.20 cm.
Arvind Kumar, the Special Chief Secretary of Disaster Management, said that more than 30 cm rainfall was received in Kamareddy district during the last 24 hours. The state government has also said that 504 people were rescued by the SDRF and Fire Service Department from flooded areas in Kamareddy and Medak districts. Nine people were stranded on a tanker in the stream at Biggugudise village in Yellareddy mandal.
The state ministers P. Srinivasa Reddy, Tumala Nageswara, and D. Sridhar Babu, along with Chief Secretary Ramakrishna Rao, held a teleconference with district collectors of the affected areas. Revenue Minister Srinivas Reddy directed that additional teams of SDRF be sent to Kamareddy, Nirmal, and Sircilla districts. A control room should also be set up at the state Secretariat in Hyderabad to monitor the entire situation.