Telangana gets 300% excess rain in just 10 days, alert for 20 districts

HYDERABAD: As monsoon rains continued to pound Telangana and three more people got washed away in swirling flood waters on Thursday, authorities said the state has received 300 % excess rainfall in just 10 days.

Between August 10 and August 20, Monsoon dumped 270.4 mm of rains as against the normal rainfall of 77.2 mm, resulting in a surplus rainfall of 51 per cent in the same period.
India Meteorological Department (IMD), Hyderabad issued a red alert for several districts in the state on Thursday forecasting "heavy to very heavy rain and extremely heavy rainfall" at isolated places in 20 districts.
"A fresh low-pressure area developing over the northwest Bay of Bengal will trigger heavy rains from August 23. We are monitoring the intensity of the rains in all the districts," said Naga Ratna, in-charge director, IMD, Hyderabad.
Even as there were heavy inflows into reservoirs, water in the Godavari rose over the danger level at Bhadrachalam in Bhadradri Kothagudem district once again. The water level in Godavari stood at 52.80 feet at 10pm on Thursday.
Several roads in practically all districts suffered damage and traffic flow came to a standstill at many places.
In a mishap in Mulugu district, two youths travelling on a motorcycle got washed away on National Highway 163. "The rescue operations have been taken up," an official told TOI on Thursday evening.
Superintendent of police of Mulugu district, Sangram Singh G Patil, got into a rubber boat along with NDRF personnel and took part in the rescue operations personally.
Low pressure area over Telangana led to heavy rainfall
A fisherman who went fishing got washed away at Jurala reservoir in Jogulamba Gadwal district. Locals also noticed a woman’s body floating at Jurala and it is suspected that she could be one of the victims of the country boat mishap that occurred in the river Krishna on August
17. Another person drowned in an overflowing lake in Nizamabad district.
In Mahbubabad district, a pregnant woman, who was travelling in an auto, was caught in the floodwater as the Rallavagu overflowed. Authorities got the woman out in a lorry and took her to the hospital.
In another incident in Mancherial district, a pregnant woman, Srilatha of Kotapalli mandal, who was also caught in the flood was helped to reach the hospital by Chennur rural inspector Nagaraju, SI Ravikumar and local MPTC J K Shekhar.
IMD said a well-marked low-pressure area over Bay of Bengal and a convergence zone over Telangana led to a massive increase in the rainfall. So much so that by August 15, the state had already received 30 per cent surplus rainfall by recording 120 mm of rain in merely five days. “These heavy rains could be attributed to active systems over Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. A well-marked low-pressure area which ran through Telangana led to heavy/extreme rainfall over northern and north-eastern districts,” said Naga Ratna.
“Extreme rainfall has affected the crop yield as many farmlands are submerged. The land is also saturated,” said Rama Rao, consultant meteorologist, Telangana State Development Planning Society.
Incessant rains have also led to a drop in maximum temperature by 2-5 five degrees Celsius in many districts.