Telangana floods death toll pegged at 16; Many still missing

The State government put the damage at Rs.5,000 crore as per preliminary estimates and sought an immediate assistance of Rs.2,000 crore from the Centre.

Hyderabad: The death toll due to the floods that threw normal life out of gear in multiple districts in the State rose to 16 on Monday. Several people were still missing with search operations still on, even as flood waters began receding in some areas. The State government put the damage at Rs.5,000 crore as per preliminary estimates and sought an immediate assistance of Rs.2,000 crore from the Centre.

The incessant rainfall, which continued in some areas including Nirmal, caused inundation of low-lying areas, damage to agricultural crops and disruption of the State’s rail and road links with the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh from Sunday. The situation has not seen much of an improvement on Monday. At least 15 residential colonies in Khammam town remained underwater on Monday due to the overflowing Munneru River. More than 100 villages in Khammam district also remained submerged, according to reports.

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Of the nine persons who were washed away in Khammam and Kothagudem, the body of one Yakub who was washed away along with his wife at Nayakangudem of Kusumanchi mandal in Palair was found on Monday but his wife Saida was not yet traced out. One body in Yerrupalem mandal, one in Bonakal in Khammam district, two bodies in Aswapuram mandal and one in Manugur mandal of Kothagudem district were found. The body of Nunavath Motilal, who was washed away along with his daughter N Ashwini in their car, too was traced on Monday. The bodies of two persons who were washed in separate incidents in Peddapalli on Sunday too were retrieved on Monday.

The impact of the torrential rains continued to affect rail traffic on Monday too. According to South Central Railway officials, due to heavy rains and waterlogging over the tracks at several locations, 432 trains were cancelled and 13 trains were partially cancelled. Officials said 139 trains were diverted till Monday afternoon.

In Khammam city, residents in areas like Bokkalagadda, Moti Nagar and Damsalapuram, which were inundated with Munneru floodwaters, and residents in Kaviraju Nagar, Chaitanya Nagar, Cheruvu Bazar and other areas started salvaging their belongings. Though the residents started cleaning their houses that turned muddy due to the floodwater, they said lack of power supply and even drinking water was affecting them.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, who held a review meeting at Hyderabad and later visited flood-affected areas including Khammam, appealed to the Centre to declare the ongoing floods in Telangana as a national calamity and to grant Rs 2,000 crore in immediate financial aid. He urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to personally visit the flood-ravaged areas to assess the situation.

During a high-level review meeting at the Integrated Command and Control Centre in Hyderabad, he instructed officials to prepare and submit a comprehensive report on the flood damage to the Centre. Preliminary estimates indicate a financial loss of approximately Rs.5,000 crore and damage to crops in around four lakh acres across the State. With heavy rains forecasted in Adilabad, Nirmal and Nizamabad districts over the next 24 hours, officials were directed to relocate residents from submergence-prone areas to safer locations.

Revanth Reddy announced a financial assistance of Rs.5 lakh to families of flood victims and announced compensation for livestock losses, setting amounts at Rs 50,000 for cattle and Rs 5,000 for goats and sheep. He also asked officials to allot houses for those who lost homes under the Indiramma Housing scheme and allocated Rs.5 crore each to Collectors of Khammam, Kothagudem, Mahabubabad and Suryapet districts for immediate relief efforts.