Hyderabad Floods: Many tanks face breach threat

Hyderabad Floods: Though there has been some respite from rains for the past two days in the city, the threat from 185 water bodies which have reached their full tank level (FTL) looms over the low-lying areas.

Musapet, Mansurabad and Bandlaguda tanks in the Hyderabad limits are on the verge of breach, while the bund of Fox Sagar had to be breached as the officials failed to open the valves of the crest gates.

Faced with inundation of low-lying areas, civic authorities made announcements since Wednesday morning asking the people to shift to safer places.

They also took up measures to shift them to relief camps. All the lakes and tanks, including Osman Sagar, Hussain Sagar and Himayat Sagar, have been found vulnerable. Three lakes - Appa Chervu, Gurram Chervu and Palle Chervu had breached and cracks are developed in the bunds of 50 other water bodies, which include Fox Sagar and Meerpet Chervu.

According to the officials, out of 41,000 water bodies in the state, 200 are reported to have suffered damage. Water levels in the big reservoirs -- Himayat Sagar and Osman Sagar -- have reached the full tank level (FTL) of 1763 feet and 1790 feet, respectively. As the IMD predicted very heavy to heavy rains in the next two days, officials said that the threat of breaching of the water bodies is imminent.

Special teams have been deployed to monitor the status of water level and the existence of the water body structure in case the catchment areas receive heavy rains in the 24 hours. Additional 15 special teams have also been constituted to look after the safety of the tanks and lakes round the clock.

Officials said that all the tanks were brimming with huge inflows after the city received a record 30 cm of rainfall this week. State Secretary to Irrigation Rajat Kumar said that repairs were taken up at all breached water bodies on a war footing. Efforts were on to restore normalcy at the breached tanks before the city received another bout of heavy rains. The government has earmarked Rs 10 crore for the temporary restoration of tanks. It would require another Rs 40 crore to take up the repairs on a permanent basis. It has also been decided not to allow people to visit the lakes till situation returns to normal.