HYDERABAD: At least 23 people died in Telangana on Wednesday after a deep depression swept through the state, unleashing heavy rains and widespread destruction. Heavy rains were reported in Andhra Pradesh, North karnataka and south of Odisha.
Hyderabad, the capital of Telangana, endured the brunt of the heavy downpour with a lot of streets, especially in the Old City, turning into virtual rivers. When the situation became critical, the Army was called in to assist in rescue and relief operations.
The city reported at least 18 deaths, but government sources said the death toll could rise as there were a number of cases of people being dragged away and still not counted.
Authorities said at least eight people were washed away by the rough waters and were missing as of Wednesday night. In one incident, a person in the Barkas area of the Old City was caught on camera being swept away by high-speed rainwater on the city road. The video went viral and he was later rescued by the police with the help of locals.
Hyderabad was cut off from neighboring Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, and access was difficult on the national highways connecting Vijayawada and Bengaluru. Many parts of Hyderabad had no electricity for 12-24 hours. This hit the city’s IT sector hard, as nearly 20% of technicians lost broadband connections due to a lack of home power backup. Hyderabad’s IT sector has around 1,500 companies, employs nearly 6 lakh people and exports software worth more than Rs 1.28 lakh crore. Almost 95% of the employees of all IT companies in the city have been working from home since the pandemic began in March.
Wednesday was the rainiest day in the history of Great Hyderabadas the city received a month of rain in a single day, bringing life to a paralyzing stop. The city and its outskirts recorded 324.5mm of rain in just 24 hours, according to the Telangana State Development Planning Society.
“Since the deep depression centered in Hyderabad, it caused torrential rains. But it was unprecedented as our observatory had never witnessed such a high amount of rain in October, ”said Naga Ratna, director in charge of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).
In Andhra Pradesh, heavy rains caused by the deep depression left a trail of destruction in several coastal districts with dozens of villages underwater. Up to 98 villages in Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari and Krishna districts remained under the floods on the second day.
In northern Karnataka, heavy rains on Monday and Tuesday flooded roads and fields, destroyed crops and damaged houses. A 70-year-old woman died in Gadag district on Wednesday when her house collapsed.
The rain in Telangana also caused strong discharges in Karnataka rivers, with all the major dams in the Cauvery and Krishna basins overflowing and their floodgates opened once more. Kalaburagi, Yadgir and Bidar were the hardest hit, authorities said.
Heavy rains continued to hit southern Odisha for the third day in a row on Wednesday, causing flooding in several areas, with Ganjam and Gajapati districts being the worst hit.
IMD withheld the yellow warning (heavy rain) for nine districts until Friday. “The depression over Telangana has moved further to the west-north and has no direct impact on Odisha. However, due to an upper air trough and the prevailing wind pattern, storm activity with isolated heavy rains in some districts is likely to occur through Friday, ”said an IMD bulletin.
(With contributions from Bengaluru and Bhubaneshwar)
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