Telangana rain toll rises to 70; parts of Karnataka remain flooded

The Telangana government on Monday unveiled a door-to-door evacuation plan in rain-battered Hyderabad as a precautionary measure amidst forecast of more spells while the toll due to the downpour since last week in parts of the state touched 70, officials said.

The flood situation in neighbouring Karnataka showed no signs of abating as several villages in the severely affected four districts remained submerged with over 36,000 residents being shifted to safety.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao announced Rs 10,000 as immediate relief to each flood-hit household in Hyderabad, lashed by incessant rains since last week, besides an assistance of Rs 1 lakh each to those whose houses were completely destroyed and Rs 50,000 for the partially damaged.

The assistance would be distributed from Tuesday, the government said.

State Municipal Administration Minister K T Rama Rao said the India Meteorological Department has 'warned' of heavy rainfall accompanied by thunderstorms and outlined the government's evacuation strategy for Hyderabad, which had witnessed one of its worst deluges following the recent rains.

"We know exactly which areas would be inundated. We are going to evacuate those colonies. We will go house by house and evacuate them. Thousands of people will be evacuated today, tomorrow and day after," he told reporters.

Rama Rao, son of the Chief Minister, said 70 people have been killed in rain-related incidents during the past one week in the state and urged those in low-lying areas of the city to move to relief camps in view of forecast of heavy rains for the next two days.

Hyderabad recorded the second highest rainfall since 1908, following which 37,000 people from low-lying areas have been relocated to relief camps, he said.

According to the minister, a total of 33 people in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and adjoining areas and 37 in districts have lost their lives to the torrential rains that lashed the city.

Rama Rao said the state government was in touch with the Army and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to put helicopters on standby in case of any requirement.

Hyderabad, which was battered by floods triggered by an unprecedented rainfall last week, witnessed another spell of showers on Sunday in parts of the city.

To a query, Rama Rao said the state government has sent an interim report to the Central seeking release of Rs 1,380 crore as assistance after pegging the preliminary estimates of losses at over Rs 5,000 crore.

The minister said he expected a positive response from the Centre to the state's plea.

"The Union Home Minister (Amit Shah) has tweeted that they are monitoring the situation. We hope that they will respond positively...we will wait. I am sure they will be positive," he said.

Meanwhile, help came from neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh for Hyderabad.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami announced a financial help of Rs 10 crore to Telangana in the wake of the heavy rains and flooding.

Writing to his Telangana counterpart, Palaniswami conveyed condolences on behalf of theTamil Nadu government and people to the families of all those whohad lost their lives in the rains and floods.

CM Rao thanked Palaniswami for the gesture.

Andhra Pradesh government sent eight speed boats for rescue and relief operations in the rain-battered Hyderabad.

AP State Disaster Response Force personnel and life jackets were also being sent on the request of the Telangana government, an official release said in Amaravati.

In Karnataka, river Bhima, which is in spate for nearly a week, has wreaked havoc in Kalaburagi, Vijayapura, Yadgir and Raichur, which have been experiencing intermittent heavy rains.

Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) officials said as many as 97 villages in the four districts have been affected badly and people residing there have been shifted to safety.

"So far we have evacuated 36,290 people. We have opened 174 relief camps where 28,007 people are staying," a KSNDMC official said.

The Army and the disaster response force personnel are engaged in evacuation, official sources said.

State capital Bengaluru saw heavy downpour since Sunday night, resulting in waterlogging in some places.

According to the IMD, the city recorded 39.6 mm rainfall at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited based weather observatory.

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa is scheduled to take an aerial survey of the flood-hit areas on Wednesday.