Hyderabad Rains: Two Teens Washed Away in Stream

HYDERABAD: Rain wreaked havoc across the state, with two teenagers being swept away in a flooded stream and drowning to death in Mahbubnagar on Tuesday.

The two, identified as 18-year-old Swati and 17-year-old Anusha, were neighbours and were on their way to a field in Kondedu village when the incident took place. Their bodies were found trapped in bushes a kilometre away, the police said.

In Dharmasagar mandal of Station Ghanpur constituency, shepherd Mekala Sadaiah lost 25 sheep to a lightning strike.

Nizamabad, meanwhile, was paralysed as it received record rains, including 43.12 cm in six hours at Velpur. Low-lying areas were inundated, road connectivity was snapped and water bodies, including rivulets, streams and lakes, overflowed, flooding residential areas.

While the irrigation projects in the Godavari basin continued to receive heavy inflows, inflows to projects in the Krishna basin also increased on Tuesday, the first of this monsoon.

Four bridges, culverts and two tanks were breached in Nizamabad district, with 73 houses and paddy crops being damaged. However, there was no loss of human or animal life.

In Warangal district, lakes, ponds, canals and streams overflowed onto the roads, disrupting traffic at multiple places.

Water overflow from Akery Vagu and a leak in a pipeline of Mission Bhagiratha at Yellandu village halted vehicular movement between Wardhannapet mandal and Warangal. The Bollikunta Lake, after several years, also overflowed, submerging fields in Fort Warangal mandal.

A road between Nekkonda and Narsampet mandal was also washed away due to water overflow from Vatte Vagu.

Transportation between Khammam and Warangal districts was hit due to heavy traffic jams, as a lorry was stuck on the national highway due to water overflow from Panthini Vagu at Panthini village.

In Mahbubabad district, vehicular movement between Kesmudram and Guduru mandals was hit due to water overflow from Vatti Vagu at Arpanapally village in Kesamudram mandal and Pakala Vagu in Guduru mandal.

In Adilabad district, standing crops of cotton, soya and red gram across hundreds of acres were inundated in villages located on the banks of Pranahitha River in Kautala, Bejju, Penchikalpet and Sirpur (T) mandals of Komaram Bheem Asifabad district.

In the Krishna basin, the Srisailam dam received 27,979 cusecs of rainwater inflow, while the Nagarjunasagar received 6,438 cusecs.

The water level at Srisailam dam was 813 feet against the FRL (full reservoir level) of 885 ft, while that of Nagarjunasagar was 516 ft, against the FRL of 590 ft.

In the Godavari basin, the Sriramsagar project received inflows of 26,296 cusecs, taking the water level to 64 TMC, against a gross capacity of 90 TMC.

The Yellampally project received 59,504 cusecs of water, forcing officials to discharge 59,176 cusecs downstream by lifting the sluice gates. The Kadam project received an inflow of 18,168 cusecs, following which 25,550 cusecs were discharged.

The Laxmi Barrage, under the Kaleshwaram project, continued to receive heavy inflows, with 5.79 lakh cusecs flowing in and subsequently, being discharged. Sammakkasagar (Tupakulagudem) barrage and Sitammasagar (Dummugudem) barrage received even higher inflows, of 7.55 lakh cusecs and 7.51 lakh cusecs, respectively, forcing officials to release all the inflows downstream.

Chief Secretary A. Santhi Kumari held teleconferences with collectors and SPs as part of the daily rain review, with officials from the revenue, panchayat raj, and roads and buildings departments put on high alert. Officials were also asked to assess the damage after the water recedes, while ministers and MLAs toured rain-hit areas to monitor relief operations.