14.2 cm to misery

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Nine people, including two women and three children, died on Friday night in two incidents of wall collapse, as the city was lashed by 14.2 cm of rain from Friday evening to Saturday. Nearly 60 colonies in low-lying areas were submerged rendering hundreds of families homeless; traffic came to a standstill for hours together on main roads as incessant rain lashed the city from Friday night. The city recorded 11.5 cm rain from 8.30 am on Friday to 8.30 am on Saturday, and a further 2.7 cm rain up to 8.30 pm on Saturday. Officials are forecasting more rains in the next 48 hours.

The state government has put all district collectors on high alert following the heavy rains which brought back memories of the August 2000 floods when 24 cm rain had fallen, killing 30 people and forcing civic authorities to seek the Army’s help to rescue people stranded on roof-tops and even to supply food through helicopters.

This time, the on-going road cutting and digging works, allowed rather thoughtlessly by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation during monsoons, added to the woes of the citizens. Thoroughfares turned into cesspools and overflowing manholes and the pits dug by various departments added to the woes of the commuters. The water did not recede even by 4 pm on several main roads at Toli Chowki and Chaderghat. Residents complained that GHMC officials did not come to their rescue till the morning.

Good news for rain-fed crop farmers
With major reservoirs in the state recording no significant flood inflows, the water level in the Nagarjunasagar reservoir is still 510.4, against Full Reservoir Level of 590 feet, with marginal flows amounting to 1,972 cusecs coming from intermediate catchment, contributed by small rivulets and streams into the river Krishna.

However, the heavy rains in Hyderabad and surrounding Telangana districts under the Krishna river basin helps small tributaries like Musi, Halia, Munneru, Palair get good inflows, which ultimately reach Prakasam barrage at Vijayawada and empties into the sea. Whatever rains Hyderabad and Nalgonda receive, will be collected by the Musi river, which joins the Krishna below Nagarjunasagar, making it near-impossible to impound water in any reservoir. The only solace is that there is going to be significant improvement in rain-fed cultivation as well as crops grown by borewells, due to precipitation of rain water to a large extent.

The Sriramsagar project in Nizamabad district has been receiving a meagre inflows of 1,335 cusecs, mainly from the Manjeera sub-basin within the state, while the upstream Maharashtra region remains dry.