More rain expected in Telangana, Andhra
HYDERABAD: Heavy rains claimed 25 lives in the southern states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, where the flood situation remained grim following a forecast of more rain for the next two days.
Though joint capital Hyderabad didn’t receive much rain on Sunday, the meteorological department predicted moderate to heavy rains in the next 48 hours in the city and for another four days across both states.
Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao held a review on the impact of rains from his camp office and ordered the state machinery to be alert for any eventuality across vulnerable areas. “The meeting of the state cabinet scheduled to take place tomorrow (Monday) has been cancelled due to heavy rains. CM KCR asked all ministers to stay in their respective districts to oversee the relief measures being carried out in the wake of incessant rains,” officials from the CM’s office said.
Sixteen deaths have so far occurred in Telangana, mostly in the districts of Medak and Warangal. Across the border in Andhra Pradesh, nine people died, mostly in Guntur.
Hyderabad began limping back to normalcy, but teams from the army, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Indian Air Force (IAF) continued rescue and relief operations in flood-hit areas for the second day.
On Sunday morning, two IAF Chetak helicopters airlifted 23 construction workers stranded on an island at Edupayala village in Medak district. The sorties were undertaken from Hakimpet air force station in Hyderabad and were coordinated by wing commander P Surendran, chief operations officer at Begumpet air force station, also in Hyderabad.