Rains play havoc in Telangana

Hyderabad: Heavy rains which lashed Telangana claimed four lives, including a four- year-old boy Mithun who was washed away in a nala on Tuesday. The rescue teams struggled for more than four hours to trace the body from flood waters in Pragati Nagar area in the city. According to the weather office, heavy rains are likely to continue on Wednesday also.

Reports said that three persons, including two women farm labourers succumbed to lightning in the Chityal mandal of Jayashankar Bhupalpally district. The victims along with four others were working in agricultural fields when the incident occurred.

The injured were shifted to nearby hospital and their condition is stated to be critical. The deceased have been identified as Cheliveru Saritha (30) and Neripati Mamata (32) of Chityal mandal centre, and Guduru Rajeshwar Rao (46) of Damerakunta in Kataram mandal. The injured persons were Parlapally Bhadramma, Arepally Komuramma, Mydam Uma and Kumar all from Chityal. Mithun, who was washed away in a nala, was a resident of NRI colony in Pragati Nagar.

He was playing near house when he fell into the nala. The Bachupally police rushed to the spot and along with the Fire department and Disaster management teams and traced the body.

Normal life was disrupted as the streets in many towns in the districts were flooded with heavy rains. Collectors of Hyderabad, Rangareddy, Medchal and Vikarabad districts declared holiday to educational institutions.

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) deployed special teams to rescue people from the low-lying areas where rainwater entered their homes. Traffic police were struggling to lift the vehicles which were submerged in the flood water in some colonies mainly Mysammaguda and some more localities in the Kompally municipality in the Greater Hyderabad limits.

The Telangana State Development Planning Society (TSDPS) said that very heavy rainfall ranging from 115.88 mm to 144.55 mm till 7 am was recorded on Tuesday morning. Gandhari mandal in Kamareddy recorded the highest rainfall of 144.5 mm, followed by Serilingampally, Rangareddy, which received 140.8 mm and Medchal, which received 138 mm.

The IMD officials said that it has issued orange alert of heavy to very heavy rains at isolated places in Mancherial, Nirmal, Nizamabad, Jagtial, Rajanna Sircilla, Jayashankar Bhupalpally, Mulugu, Mahabubabad, Warangal, Hanamkonda, Jangaon districts till Wednesday.