The State government has kept two helicopters ready to rescue people stuck in islands of water caused by heavy rains and overflowing streams.
One was a government helicopter and the other belonged to Defence forces, a release said.
The decision to deploy helicopters was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao with Ministers and senior officials to discuss the flood situation.
Mr. Rao asked the government machinery to be on high alert, particularly in erstwhile Karimnagar and Warangal districts, in view of heavy rains across the State, which resulted in overflow of streams and water jumping off weir of tanks. The water marooned roads at several places.
He also asked the officials to set up two control rooms in Hyderabad to expedite relief operations. The Ministers were asked to remain in their districts to monitor the situation in coordination with Collectors and police officials.
He warned of the threat of breach of bunds as most of the tanks were filled to capacity. There was also the threat of breach of roads and flooding of low-lying areas.
The situation was particularly grim in erstwhile Karimnagar and Warangal districts where water overflowed the weir of almost all tanks. Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, Director General of Police M. Mahender Reddy and others were present. .
On Mr. Rao’s instructions, Mr. Somesh Kumar held a teleconference with Collectors from his office in the BRK Bhavan when he asked them to open round-the-clock control rooms in their offices for constant vigil. A State-level control room with phone number 040-23450624 was commissioned to answer distress calls of the public.
The Collectors were also asked to ensure that there was no loss of life or property. As this situation was likely to continue for a few more days, the district officials should keep a close vigil remaining in headquarters.
He suggested extra care near railway lines that passed near tanks and ponds as water might flood the tracks due to overflow. The officials were also asked to ensure safety of bunds of tanks by taking steps to ensure that water did not reach the full reservoir capacity.
Flooding of low-lying areas should be immediately brought to the notice of higher officials here. Additional focus should be kept on sanitation in towns and villages.
The teleconference was attended by the DGP, Principal Irrigation Secretary Rajat Kumar, Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Secretary Sandeep Kumar Sultania and Commissioner Raghunandan Rao, Disaster Manager Secretary Rahul Bojja and Engineer-in-Chief of Irrigation C. Muralidhar Rao.