Nearly 40 families from Moosa Nagar, Vinayak Nagar, Rasoolpura, Musarambagh and Shankar Nagar of Hyderabad, living in close proximity to Musi river, were evacuated on July 23 evening in view of a flood threat. The residents were shifted to different community halls and mosques along with their belongings, while some sought shelter at their respective relatives’ places.
On July 22, due to the heavy inflow of water, a total of seven floodgates – five at Himayat Sagar reservoir and two at Osman Sagar reservoir – were lifted. And as part of the precautionary measures, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation officials, the local corporators and the police visited the low-lying areas and alerted residents to evacuate their houses. The iron mesh fencing on the Chaderghat bridge was also removed as there was a possibility of flood water overflowing the bridge.
The evacuation angered the locals, who alleged that the government had encroached the river beds and carrying out ‘beautification’ work that decreased the size of the river. A furious Syed Bilal, resident of Shankar Nagar, said, “These flood-like situations are because of the Telangana government. The government did not build a proper drainage system to avoid these kinds of situations. Further, in the name of beautifying the city, the government itself is encroaching spaces.”
“Adjoining Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar, a lot of places have been encroached. We demand that the government desilt those places and increase water storage capacity. We are tired of these frequent floods. Last year in October, we faced the same situation and we are going through the same ordeal now,” Syed complained and appealed to the government officials to take necessary steps to avoid this recurrence.
Speaking to TNM, the legislator of Malakpet, Ahmed Bin Abdullah, said that the evacuees are being provided with necessary food and water. “The situation is under control as there is no threat of the flood,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Indian Meteorological Department had issued a ‘red alert’ anticipating very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall in Telangana on Friday, July 23. According to the IMD’s report, parts of Adilabad, Asifabad and Mancherial were very likely to receive very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall. The districts of Nirmal, Nizamabad, Jagtial, Rajanna, Sircilla, Karimnagar, Peddapalli, Jayashankar Bhupalapally, Mulugu, Khammam, and Mahabubabad were predicted to receive heavy to very heavy rainfall.
The IMD further has issued an orange warning for July 24, Saturday and a yellow alert has been issued from July 25-27.
According to the IMD, Wankdi in Asifabad received the highest rainfall of 39 cm, followed by Asifabad at 30 cm. IMD said that the southwest monsoon in Telangana has been “vigorous.”
“The low-pressure area over north-west Bay of Bengal and neighbourhood now lies as a well-marked low-pressure area over northwest Bay of Bengal off north Odisha-West Bengal coasts. The associated cyclonic circulation now extends up to 5.8 km above mean sea level,” IMD said in its forecast.