Another surge of rains and floods unnerved the Hyderabad citizens on Friday night.
Telangana's capital city, home to nearly 1 crore people, is still reeling under the effects of the unprecedented downpour on Tuesday.
While thousands of people in dozens of colonies are still confined in their homes, surrounded by 3-4 feet water, the rains up to 20 cms in several areas on Friday have compounded their suffering.
What is more frightening for those in the flooded areas especially the old quarters and other South, South East areas of the city like LB Nagar is the forecast of further rains during this week.
As a precautionary measure, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation machinery is evacuating the citizens from low lying areas.
The extremely heavy rains on October 13 have affected 35,309 families here. Over 2100 more families were evacuated to safer places on Friday evening. Some trapped families were rescued with the help of earthmovers in the city.
170 monsoon teams with 202 water pumps from the engineering wing, and 72 teams and 106 water pumps from the Disaster Relief Force have been pumping out water from the apartment cellars and inundated colonies.
The CM’s relief ration kits along with blankets are being distributed to these families, along with milk, bread, and biscuits. Around 90,000 meals during the lunchtime and 60,000 meals at dinner were distributed to the flood-affected, Lokesh Kumar, Commissioner GHMC said.
To contain waterborne and vector-borne diseases, the entomology and DRF teams took up anti larval activities, spraying bleaching powder and Sodium Hypochlorite chemicals. The commissioner appealed to the citizens to drink boiled water only.
Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development K Taraka Ramarao, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, and MAUD Principal Secretary Arvind Kumar are administering the overall operations.
The flooded thoroughfares have also resulted in huge traffic jams on Friday.