At least ten people have been feared dead after torrential rainfall wreaked havoc in two Telugu states over the past two days. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to two chief ministers, Chandrababu Naidu of Andhra Pradesh and A Revanth Reddy of Telangana, over-call and assured full assistance from the Centre.
More than 100 trains have been cancelled, and multiple trains have been diverted due to waterlogging over tracks at several locations in the state. As heavy rainfall continues to batter several parts of the two states, at least ten more people lost their lives due to flooding and waterlogging in several areas of two states on Sunday.
Twenty-six National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams are being deployed for flood relief and rescue operations in two states. Twelve NDRF teams have already been deployed in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Whereas, fourteen are being dispatched. The Prime Minister promised more teams and also mechanical boats for relief operations.
Over 2.7 lakh lives were affected after parts of Vijaywada city in Andhra Pradesh were severely flooded due to heavy rainfall on Sunday. Swollen rivulets and flood water inflows disrupted normal life in the city.
“Due to Budameru breaches, floodwaters are coming into Vijayawada. As a result, all of this place has been submerged. It is very sad,” said Chandrababu Naiduand added that flood waters are expected to rise in the coming hours.
Visuals from Vijayawada showed commuters facing neck-deep rainwaters. Many vehicles were also seen submerged in the floodwaters. The Budameru Vagu river, also known as the ‘Sorrow of Vijayawada’ is in spate following heavy rains and is leading to a flood-like situation in various parts of the city.
Massive disruptions to road and rail traffic were reported on September 1. To avoid any untoward incident amid a severe rainfall warning for Monday and the coming days, both the state governments have declared a school holiday on Monday, September 2, based on the local weather conditions.
Damage due to heavy downpours led to the cancellation of as many as 140 trains on Sunday. Four trains were partially cancelled, and 97 were diverted due to heavy rains and waterlogging over tracks at multiple locations on the South Central Railway network, reported PTI, citing an SCR official.