2,000 people shifted to shelter homes in Telangana’s Warangal, Hanamakonda districts

Nearly 2,000 people were shifted to shelter homes in Warangal and Hanamakonda districts following heavy rains that lashed different parts of Telangana on October 29 due to the impact of severe cyclonic storm ‘Montha’, officials said on Thursday.

The downpour inundated several localities and led to waterlogging on roads in different areas in the tri-cities of Warangal, Hanamakonda and Kaizpet dirupting normal life.

Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Thursday directed officials to speed up relief operations in the flood-affected areas in Warangal.

He instructed the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police to dispatch SDRF teams and the required number of boats there, an official release said.

The Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation (GWMC) said that the Disaster Response Force (DRF) personnel shifted people from low-lying areas to shelter homes.

“#Floodshelter homes arranged in 9 places in Warangal and 4 places in Hanamkonda to accommodate people in low lying areas. GWMC sanitation staff and DRF team swiftly shifted almost 2,000 people to shelter homes,” the GWMC said in a post on ‘X’.

Some residents in low-lying areas in the affected places in Warangal said water had entered their houses and requested the authorities to take up immediate remedial measures, including construction of side walls around nalas (drainage).

TV visuals showed some cars being submerged in colonies.

Heavy rains on Wednesday led to waterlogging of roads and inundation of low-lying areas at several places in Warangal, Hanamakonda, Mahabubabad, Karimnagar, Khammam, Bhadradri Kothagudem, Nalgonda and Siddipet districts.

One person died and another was feared washed away in separate rain-related incidents in Suryapet and Khammam districts on Wednesday, officials said.

The chief minister, who held a video-conference with district collectors and senior officials of cyclone-affected districts, said steps should be taken to deploy Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) and equipment for the relief operation.

Those who are in flood-affected areas should be shifted to safer places and families stranded on rooftops of their homes should be supplied with drinking water and food by drones, the CM further directed.

Meanwhile, people in Khanapuram Haveli and Dhamsalapuram colonies in Khammam city were shifted to rehabilitation centres as water level in river Munneru rose on Thursday, an official release said.

Police stopped vehicular traffic on Khammam-Bonakal road due to overflowing water on the road, it said.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Thursday forecast that light to moderate rain or thundershowers are very likely to occur at a few places over Telangana between 1 pm on Thursday and 8.30 am on Friday.

It warned that thunderstorm accompanied with lightning and gusty winds (30-40 kmph) are very likely to occur at isolated places in Adilabad, Komuram Bheem Asifabad, Mancherial, Nirmal, Nizamabad, Jagtial, Rajanna Sircilla, Karimnagar, Peddapalli, Jayashankar Bhupalpally and Mulugu districts during the same period.