Rains take break, Army helps with rescue in Telangana
Hyderabad: After pounding the State for nearly a week, rains took a break at several areas on Friday but the Telangana government continued relief and rescue operations along with the Army as the flood situation at Bhadrachalam remained grim.
The Met department forecast of light to moderate rains at a few places in the State over the weekend comes as a relief after a series of heavy-rain warnings since last a few days. The highest rainfall of 12.5 mm was recorded at Burdipad in Gadwal, followed by 10 mm at Dharmavaram in Mulugu and 9.8 mm at Maddur in Narayanpet districts.
The situation at a few irrigation projects, including Medigadda, Kaddam and Sriram Sagar, remained stable with declining inflows. But the flood level in the Godavari river at Bhadrachalam increased alarmingly and reached the 70 feet by evening. Officials said the flood level had crossed the 70-ft level after 30 years and it was only the second time since such a number was recorded.
Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, who was monitoring the situation on an hourly basis, directed Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar to seek the Army’s assistance for relief measures in the flood-affected Bhadradri-Kothagudem district.
Accordingly, 101 men — comprising 68 from Infantry, 10 medical professionals and 23 engineers — have left for the flood-ravaged district. This apart, the Tourism Department dispatched four boats, along with men, to assist in the rescue and relief operations. The Fire Department also dispatched seven boats, 210 life jackets and life boys to the district.
The government has deputed senior officer and Singareni Colleries MD N Sridhar as the special officer to monitor the relief operations. Ministers and public representatives have been coordinating with the government machinery at the field level and participating in the rescue operations.
Earlier, following a request from Transport Minister P Ajay Kumar, who was monitoring the relief measures at Bhadrachalam, requested the Chief Minister to deploy a helicopter. Life jackets have already been sent to the flood-hit areas.
Meanwhile, inflows into the Srisailam project have been on the rise, with officials releasing 1.45 lakh cusecs from the Jurala project and 1.15 lakh cusecs from the Sunkesula project. Currently, the water level is at 836.40 ft against the FRL of 885 ft.
