Telangana’s tribal belt is hit worst by the floods as several villages located on the banks of the swollen streams continued to remain out of bounds with rain battered, severed road links.
Kondai and Malyala villages in Mulugu district bore the brunt of flood fury due to unprecedented rains on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday.
Incidentally, Laxmidevipeta in Venktapur mandal of Mulugu district recorded the highest rainfall of 64.9 cm in the State during the 24-hour period ending at 8.30 a.m. on Thursday.
The bridge between Dodla and Kondai villages crashed under the impact of the flash floods in Jampannavagu stream on Thursday morning.
The swollen stream which flowed perilously through Kondai in the wee hours of Thursday left the villagers stranded on the rooftops of their houses for several hours. Eight villagers were washed away while reportedly trying to reach a nearby village in a desperate attempt to save their lives. Their bodies were recovered almost 24 hours later on Friday.
Mulugu MLA Seethakka was moved to tears on Thursday by the plight of tribal people of the flood-affected villages and urged the State government to deploy helicopters in the rescue and relief operations.
The intensity of flooding and severed road link to Kondai hindered the rescue and relief operations for some time on Thursday night.
Braving the inclement weather, the NDRF and the police personnel reached the village on inflatable boats and provided relief to the flood-affected villagers a few hours later. Two IAF helicopters airdropped food packets in the flood ravaged Kondai village on Friday afternoon. Mulugu Superintendent of Police Gaush Alam, OSD Ashok Kumar and Eturunagaram ASP Sankeerth Sirisetty oversaw the rescue and relief operations.
