Heavy rains kill 12 peoplein Telangana

Heavy rains have killed at least 12 people in Telangana and caused widespread flooding in Hyderabad, home to major IT companies and startups, officials said yesterday. A wall collapsed killing nine people in Hyderabad, the capital of Telangana, while the other three were killed in separate incidents, they said. Torrential rain also battered the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh.
Many parts of Hyderabad had received more than 25cm of rainfall over the past 24 hours, a government official said, while floodwater inundated main roads and caused widespread chaos.
Authorities in Hyderabad declared a holiday yesterday and today and asked residents to stay indoors. Residents posted pictures of waterlogged homes, offices and streets on Twitter.
With the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasting more rains, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corp (GHMC) Commissioner Lokesh Kumar has appealed to people to stay indoors.
Hundreds of vehicles were stranded on Hyderabad-Vijayawada highway after a stretch of the road came under flood water.
Traffic was also hit on the Hyderabad-Bengaluru highway.
People were also facing problems in reaching Hyderabad Airport at Shamshabad.
Cyberabad police have appealed to those going to the airport to use the Outer Ring Road.
Colonies in areas like Khairatabad, Chintal Basti, Gandhi Nagar, Maruti Nagar, Srinagar and Anand Bagh in the heart of the city were also inundated.
Several parts of the city remained without power for more than 12 hours.
All major water reservoirs in Andhra Pradesh are full to their brim due to the massive inflow following the heavy rains.
Meanwhile, a red alert has been sounded in 10 districts across the neighbouring Karnataka as heavy rains continued to pound, causing flash floods, inundating low-laying areas and disrupting normal life, an official said.
“Red alert has been sounded in 10 districts across the coastal, and northern regions of the state, as heavy rains are predicted to lash the area over the next two-three days due to low pressure and strong winds,” a state Meteorological Department official said.
The 10 districts are Bagalkot, Belagavi, Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri, Kalaburagi, Raichur and Vijayapura in the north region and Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada in the coastal region.
“As the southwest monsoon has extended beyond September, the state received 38% excess rainfall over the last two weeks, at 104mm as against 76mm average from October 1-14 morning,” the official said.
On Tuesday, rainfall across the state was 24mm against 4.6mm, a whopping 427% increase.