Flood waters start receding; Telangana suffers Rs 5000 Cr loss, Andhra CM Naidu promises to reconstruct houses

Hyderabad/Vijayawada: Flood waters have started receding in several parts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

This has prompted the governments of two states to step up relief efforts in the affected areas.

Torrential downpours in both states left 33 people dead (Telangana -16 and Andhra Pradesh - 17 ). Floods battered roads and inundated rail tracks. Thousands of acres of land were submerged in the floods. People struggled for their daily needs even as rescue and rehabilitation efforts were on.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and his Telangana counterpart Revanth Reddy visited some inundated areas in their respective territories.

In Andhra Pradesh

CM Nara Chandrababu Naidu who stayed in the flood-affected area for the last two days has been visiting the areas, and speaking to the victims. Since cars cannot pass through flood waters, Naidu climbed atop a JCB to meet the victims and assured them of all assistance.

With many of them losing their houses in the floods, Naidu assured them that the government would construct new houses for them.

#AndhraPradesh---

On the third day, CM @ncbn visits the flood-affected areas on a JCB for 4 hours, interacted with the victims, to know their problems.

When two kids informed that their houses had been damaged, #CBN assured to construct new houses.#VijayawadaFloods pic.twitter.com/bg2IIkqmO6

— NewsMeter (@NewsMeter_In) September 3, 2024

CM directed all officials in the state to pull up their socks and work efficiently in extending relief and helping flood victims, following the unprecedented rainfall and floods, especially in Vijayawada. In light of the acute power shortage in some localities of Vijayawada, people were scrambling to charge their mobile phones at the railway station, among other difficulties. Naidu assured to restore the power supply within two days.

Five choppers, two from the Navy and three from the Air Force are dropping food items and airlifting people from marooned places.

Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority managing director R Kurmanadh said about 60 to 70 colonies continue to be waterlogged out of 100 that suffered the fate.

Around 44,041 people were accommodated in the relief camps in the state.

Restoration work of the tracks in the South Central Railway division is expected to be completed by Wednesday evening if there are no obstacles.

In Telangana

Chief Minister Revanth Reddy held a review meeting with ministers and officials at Mahabubabad Collectorate after visiting flood-hit areas. He asked officials to prepare reports on encroachments on water bodies like lakes. He also asked them to prepare reports on the losses caused by the current spell of heavy rains and flood and to take measures to check the spread of diseases after flood water receded.

He visited the flood-hit areas in Khammam and Mahabubabad districts for two days.

Telangana government has already announced an ex-gratia of Rs five lakh to the kin of those who died in rain-related incidents. The state government has written to the Centre urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit and see the damage caused by the heavy rains.

"The government has put the damage due to the downpour at over Rs 5,000 crore and sought immediate assistance of Rs 2,000 crore from the Centre," Revanth Reddy said in a statement released.

In Nalgonda and Nagarkurnool districts, police in coordination with the Fire Department, rescued 10 Chenchu tribe members, including children of Dindi Mandal, who were stranded in the flood waters of the Dindi River.

Donations pour in

Moved by the severe impact of the recent heavy rains and floods in Telangana, Governor Jishnu Dev Varma, has released Rs 30 lakh from his discretionary grants to the Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS), Telangana State Branch, to take up the immediate relief activities through its district branches and to assist those affected by the disaster.

Telangana government employees have also donated their one-day basic pay totaling Rs 130 crore to the flood relief measures. A cheque in this regard was handed over to Telangana CM Revanth Reddy.

YSRCP President and former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has announced Rs 1 crore.

Mega star Chiranjeevi donated Rs 50 lakhs each to the Chief Minister's Relief Funds of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Tollywood actor and TDP MLA N Balakrishna announced a donation of Rs 50 lakh each to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Jr NTR donated Rs 50 lakh each to both the states, Actor Vishwaksen donated Rs 5 lakh each for both the states, Telugu star Mahesh Babu donated Rs 50 lakh each to the CM Relief Fund for both AP and Telangana.

Three sisters from Vijayawada—Vijayalakshmi, Nirmala Devi, and Rani have come forward to help those affected by the floods. They each contributed Rs 50,000 in financial aid, handing over the cheques to Naidu at the NTR District Collectorate.

MEIL initiated food distribution program

Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Limited (MEIL) has promptly responded to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu's call to assist the flood-affected people of Vijayawada.

In collaboration with the Hare Krishna Movement India, MEIL has initiated a food distribution program, providing breakfast, lunch, dinner, and water bottles. On Tuesday it distributed food to 1,35,000 people at Indira Gandhi Municipal Stadium in Vijayawada. Breakfast was distributed to 25,000 people and lunch and dinner was distributed to 1,10,000 people. The food, prepared in the kitchens of Hare Krishna Movement India and MEIL, was handed over to government officials at the collector's office in Vijayawada for distribution in the affected areas.

MEIL in collaboration with Hare Krishna Movement India will continue food distribution program for few more days in Vijayawada, and will increase the quantity to serve more number of people with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and water bottles.

Fresh low-pressure likely

Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department observed that cyclonic circulation is lying over coastal Andhra Pradesh, Yanam, and vicinity between 3.1 km and 5.8 km above mean sea level.

"A fresh low-pressure area is likely to form over west-central and adjoining northwest Bay of Bengal around September 5," the Met Department said.