At least thirty-one people died in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday, including 19 deaths in Hyderabad, as rains hammered the southern states. Heavy rains continued to wreak havoc in Karnataka as a deep depression in the Bay of Bengal crossed the coast in Kakinada, leaving behind a trail of destruction.
In the last 48 hours, 10 people died in Andhra Pradesh due to heavy rains, while continuous downpour led to waterlogging and inundation of some low-lying areas in Hyderabad. The deaths in the Telangana Capital were mostly in wall and house collapses triggered by heavy rainfall.
Watch | Several parts of Hyderabad submerged as life comes to a halt
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Chief Ministers K Chandrashekar Rao and Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, assuring them of all possible support and assistance from the Centre in relief and rescue work.
The Begumpet met office observatory in Hyderabad recorded the highest ever rainfall for October of 192.1 mm on Wednesday.
In Andhra, the river Krishna remained swollen on Wednesday as it received heavy flooding due to rainfall over the last couple of days.
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The Vamsadhara river in Srikakulam district was also flooded after heavy rains in the catchment area in neighbouring Odisha.
All major dams in Karnataka in the Cauvery and the Krishna basins are brimming and their floodgates had to be opened. Officials said Kalaburagi, Yadgir, and Bidar were severely affected as small streams were in spate with many lakes overflowing and inundating villages.
In Maharashtra’s Solapur, six people, including four members of a family, were killed in a wall collapse triggered by heavy rains in Pandharpur town.
The National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) on Wednesday sent two teams to Karnataka and three teams to Maharashtra for rescue operations. The NDRF said that of three teams deployed in Maharashtra, one has been sent to Solapur, one to Pune’s Indapur, and the third in Latur.
A weather bulletin by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said heavy to very heavy rainfall with extremely heavy falls (>20 cm per day) at isolated places was very likely over Konkan and Goa and heavy to very heavy falls at isolated places over Coastal Karnataka and Madhya Maharashtra on October 15.
The IMD has said winter could be colder this season due to the prevailing La Nina conditions.
“As weak La Nina condition is prevailing, we can expect more cold this year. The El Nino and La Nina conditions play a dominant role if you consider the large scale factor for the occurrence of cold wave conditions,” IMD Director General Mrutunjay Mohapatra said.