It is now official. The Telangana government on Thursday declared that heavy rains and flash floods that ravaged different parts of the state since Tuesday resulted in the death of 50 people and left a trail of destruction that is estimated to have caused a loss of Rs 5,000 crore to properties and crops.
This was revealed at a review meeting conducted by chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao with senior officials at Pragati Bhavan. The officials put the death toll in Hyderabad at 11, but unofficial reports say the number could be more than 20.
On Wednesday itself, the police authorities said there were 17 deaths and the number rose to 20 by Thursday morning. Several others are said to be still missing as they are feared washed away in nalas.
KCR wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating that there was a huge loss to the state to the tune of Rs 5,000 crore and requesting that the Centre release an amount of Rs 1,350 crore for immediate rehabilitation and relief works in the areas.
According to official estimates, crops in 7.35 lakh acres were inundated in floods. Assuming that at least 50 per cent of these crops were completely damaged, the loss would be around Rs 2,000 crore,” he said.
In Hyderabad, the average rainfall was 31 cm in a single day which was the second highest rainfall since 1916. It resulted in inundation 20,540 houses in 144 colonies, affecting 35,000 families.
There were heavy damages to city roads at 445 places and national highways at six locations. The GHMC has set up relief centres 72 places where more than one lakh people were provided shelter, food and drinking water,” the officials said.
Apart from the GHMC areas, the rains and floods caused destruction in 30 towns across Telangana, inundating 238 colonies and disrupting connectivity to 150 places. As many as 127 irrigation tanks breached causing a loss of around Rs 50 crore the irrigation department.
Similarly, there was a massive damage to road network in the state. There were damages to 475 panchayat roads and 112 state roads.
In all, there was a loss of Rs 295 crore to panchayat roads, Rs 184 crore to the state roads and Rs 11 crore to national highways, the officials told the chief minister.
The chief minister instructed that relief and rehabilitation steps be taken on war-footing to provide succour to the affected people. He asked the officials to provide essential commodities and blankets to each affected family.
He announced immediate release of Rs 5 crore to the GHMC to take up relief works and also announced ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh to each of the kin of the deceased.
