Rains continue to hit TS, empty bus washed away

Heavy rains lashed several parts of Telangana for third consecutive day on Tuesday. Tanks and canals were overflowing in districts, cutting off road connectivity and posing problems to motorists.

A bus that got stuck in the swollen Manair Vagu near Lingannapeta of Ghambiraopet mandal on Monday was swept away when the water level in the rivulet rose. Officials said the bus carrying passengers from Kamareddy to Siddipet was stuck on the causeway across the rivulet.

The driver stopped the bus in the middle of the bridge when the vehicle tilted to one side. Locals noticed the plight of the vehicle and quickly rescued the passengers, pulling them to safety with ropes. The efforts to pull the bus up from the bridge with the help of a JCB failed. The empty bus was swept away when the water level rose.

The weatherman predicted on Tuesday that there will be rain for three more days. All the irrigation projects were full with water. Officials lifted gates at Sriramsagar, Mid Manair and Himayatsagar due to heavy inflows.

Several low-lying colonies in Warangal, Hanumakonda and Kazipet were inundated and water entered the houses, causing severe inconvenience to the residents who spent sleepless nights trying to manually drain the water. Some 250 residents of inundated colonies were shifted to rescue centres and civic officials distributed food packets in affected areas. Disaster response teams rescued 36 people from flood waters.

Meanwhile, water is being released from the first four projects of the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation scheme downstream due to heavy rains in Maharashtra.

Heavy rains disrupted normal life in the undivided Karimnagar district. Mogili Chandramouli, a shepherd from Sircilla, went out for grazing his sheep and got stuck along with his 30 sheep due to the overflow of water from Manair canal at the Nehrunagar check dam. Police rescued them with the help of expert swimmers.