The India Meteorological Department (IMD) in Hyderabad has issued a red warning to Telangana district officials to take action over very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall expected across the state in the next 24 hours. The red warning was issued for 21 out of the 31 districts in the state including Hyderabad and Sangareddy.
The warning level was raised to red on Monday morning over very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall accompanied by thunderstorm and lightning expected to occur at isolated places over Telangana. The IMD categorises very heavy rainfall as 115.6- 204.5 mm and extremely heavy rainfall for rain above 204.5 mm. The thunderstorm warning for many parts of the district is expected to last till September 17.
The IMD in its impact assessment released on Monday morning expects flooding in low-lying areas, agricultural lands and disruption of transport. The IMD has directed district administrations to regulate road, rail and air traffic and restrict the movement of people in affected areas. The municipal corporations have been asked to take appropriate action to control water-borne diseases and issue necessary advisory working with state disaster management authority on the basis of IMD inputs.
IMD officials say the heavy rains are due to the influence of a cyclonic circulation over the Bay of Bengal off the Andhra Pradesh coast, said Naga Ratna, in-charge director for IMD- Hyderabad to Times of India.
Telangana has so far received 34 % excess rainfall from June 1 since the start of the southwest monsoon. The rainfall received by the state 898.3 mm as against the normal of 699.4 mm.
In neighbouring Andra Pradesh's cosatal region of Yanam and Rayalseema have been wtinessing heavy rains for the past two days.Several streams and canals in the state were overflowing with rainwater. Due to heavy rain, water flowed into several houses in east Godavari's Pithapuram district. In Kurnool district, paddy and maize fields were inundated with rainwater. The highest amount of rainfall at 17.42 cm was recorded at P Gannavaram mandal in East Godavari. As many as 61 mandals in Ananthapuram have witnessed an average rainfall of 2.82 cm. In Kurnool, it rained 3.72 cm on an average. Nearly 100 acres of paddy fields at Golugonda mandal in Visakhapatnam have been completely inundated with rainwater. In Kadapa, 412 hectares of paddy, cotton and other crops have been affected by the rains.