Heavy rains pound Telangana, Nirmal locals go fishing on streets

HYDERABAD: With heavy rains lashing Telangana, fisherfolk and locals in Nirmal went fishing on the town’s streets. As the streams started overflowing, fishermen took their nets and caught fish in the flood waters on the roads.
At many other places in the state, however, the rains brought misery. As many as 16 districts were affected in the downpour with roads being washed away and streams overflowing on bridges. In Kumuram Bheem Asifabad district, a man got washed away at Umri village in Narnoor mandal. The youth got caught in the flood waters of a stream which overflowed on the road. He got washed away when he was just a few feet short of crossing over. Officials have begun search operation.
Nirmal’s fishermen had released fish seedlings into surrounding lakes little expecting that they would have to reap their harvest on the roads. Fish weighing up to 10 kg were netted in the flood waters. Apart from the lakes having breached, the deluge was also because of the Swarna project which is close by. With canals overflowing, the fish were all over town.
Nirmal’s GNR colony was the worst hit as water reached up to the first floor in many homes. Locals and officials shifted the elderly, pregnant women and those with infants to safety in boats.
No one has seen such rain in Nirmal: Endowments min
A resident of GNR colony who was stuck in his house tweeted for help sharing a video of the inundated area.
“Please help us. We are dying here. Please help us. Please,” said Santosh Shetty. Nirmal district collector Musharraf Ali Faruqui who responded said: “Brother, we are all on field. Boats are rescuing senior citizens and other more needy groups. We are on the task. Please stay home, stay safe.”
“It is like never before. No one has seen such rain in Nirmal,” endowments minister Indrakaran Reddy said.
At other places, eight people, including women and some labourers were rescued with the help of ropes by local people in Rajanna Sircilla district. At the newly constructed collectorate building in Rajanna Sircilla, the path from the gate to the building was flooded. Officials, however, said the water would recede and there would be no problem for the collectorate.
In Jagtial district, a zilla parishad school at Jaggasagar collapsed in the rain. In Adilabad district, an RTC bus caught in the flood waters in Boath. The driver and passengers were helped to safety by locals.
Adilabad police spoke to their counterparts in neighbouring Maharashtra and asked that traffic not be allowed into the district because of the flood situation. An alert was sounded in 34 villages in the district as inflows into the projects increased and water could be released.