HYDERABAD: The Indian Army and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) on Wednesday joined rescue and relief work in the flood-affected areas of Hyderabad.
On the request of the state government, the Army took up rescue and relief works in Bandlaguda, one of the worst-affected areas in the old city of Hyderabad.
Army personnel were seen evacuating people from inundated areas.
According to a statement from the Defence Ministry, many stranded people have been evacuated and showing humanitarian values, the Army also distributed a large number of food packets to people affected by the floods.
Army medical teams accompanying the columns are providing essential first-aid and medical relief to the stranded people, the statement added.
NDRF teams were also actively involved in rescue and relief works. They rescued 72 people from flood-hit Meerpet area on the city outskirts.
Heavy rains on Tuesday night triggered unprecedented floods in the city and suburbs, claiming at least 15 lives in separate rain related incidents.
While nine people died in house collapse, six others were washed away in flood water.
An estimated 1, 500 colonies were submerged due to extremely heavy rainfall.
Boats were deployed to rescue people from some inundated areas such as Nadeem Colony in Toli Chowki.
Roads turned into lakes, bringing vehicular traffic to a halt. Vehicles were also stranded on highways to Vijayawada, Bengaluru, Nagpur, Warangal and Srisailam.
Scary visuals emerged from flooded areas showing floating cars, streets turning into streams and people on rooftops waiting for help.
Overflowing lakes, nalas and even drainages led to severe waterlogging. Hundreds of vehicles were damaged as water filled the cellars of buildings in affected areas.
For a second consecutive night, many areas in the city and suburbs remained without electricity.
Longer power outages disrupted mobile and Internet connectivity, causing severe inconveniences to citizens.
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) said 1.5 lakh food packets were provided to people in flood-hit areas.
According to the GHMC statement, six people died in the floods while 121 localities and 20, 540 homes were inundated.
GHMC deployed members of 360 its Disaster Response Force (DRF) and opened 61 relief camps where 684 people have taken shelter.
State ministers K. T. Rama Rao and T. Srinivas Yadav, Greater Hyderabad Mayor Bonthu Rammohan, Deputy Mayor Baba Fasihuddin, Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, city MLAs and corporators visited various affected areas to supervise rescue and relief work.
Earlier, Rama Rao told the State Legislative Council that despite issuing notices people were not vacating dilapidated houses, leading to incidents of house collapse.
He said the municipal authorities would resort to forcible eviction, if necessary, with the help of police.
The minister also held an emergency meeting with officials from Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and other departments to take stock of the situation.
He requested DGP Mahender Reddy and all Police Commissioners of Hyderabad, Cyberabad, and Rachakonda to proactively monitor inundated areas/roads and ensure appropriate traffic diversions are in place. He asked the officials to ensure food, water, and other essentials are available at relief shelters.