After being battered by torrential rains that triggered one of the worst floods in recent times and claimed 50 lives, the city and other parts of Telangana were returning to normalcy on Thursday with relief measures being stepped up by the government.
In a relief, there was no rains on Thursday and water started receding in most parts of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits though some localities still remained inundated.
State Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar said that relief teams were working to pump out water from inundated areas and to restore normal traffic, after the blinding rains caused havoc, flooding roads and houses and toppling parked vehicles. The rainfall was unprecedented in and around GHMC, he said.
The Begumpet met office observatory here had recorded the highest ever rainfall of 192.1 mm in October on Wednesday. Efforts were on to trace six members of a family who were among the nine people washed away in swirling flood waters on Wednesday at Bandlaguda, police said. The body of a postman, who fell into flood waters on Tuesday while on duty, was fished out from a lake on Thursday, they said.
As the heavy downpour resulted in trees falls, water stagnation and other problems at various places, the Disaster Response Force (DRF) teams of the GHMC strove hard to clear them, besides attending to calls for rescue from people marooned. The DRF teams were working continuously to normalise the situation in the city, said GHMC Enforcement and Disaster Management Director of Vigilance Vishwajit Kampati.
Municipal Administration Minister K T Rama Rao, who held a review meeting on the flood situation in the city, urged the officials to take up all necessary measures to address the situation arising out of the deluge. Observing that there was likelihood of sudden outbreak of epidemics and spread of water-borne diseases, he said medical camps should be set up in the city.
The 104 ambulance service equipped with doctors and medicines should also be arranged at all the places, he said. Around 44,000 people were put up in 64 relief camps and 45,000 food packets were provided, an official release quoted him as saying.
Rama Rao, son of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, instructed the officials to evacuate people from dilapidated buildings and construction sites, even using force with the help of police where ever necessary, to prevent any untoward incident. He also directed that damaged roads in the city should be restored immediately.
Rama Rao visited different rain-affected areas in the city, including Nallakunta, Musheerabad and Amberpet, and assured the victims that the government would provide them immediate assistance. He also toured other rain-hit areas, including Nadeem Colony, Tolichowki, along with AIMIM president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi.
Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy, who is the Lok Sabha member from Secunderabad, visited Nampalli, Jubilee Hills, Sanat Nagar, among other rain-affected areas. TV channels showed visuals of a rescue boat carrying several people in an inundated area overturning, apparently due to being overweight. All the occupants were stated to be safe, police said.
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