A fresh spell of overnight rains caused flooding in parts of Hyderabad on Sunday even as the flood situation remained grim in four districts of Karnataka, with the Krishna and Bhima rivers in spate.
The overnight incessant rains lashed Hyderabad days after the city witnessed one of the worst deluges following the heaviest downpour in over a century, police and civic officials said.
The latest rains since Saturday evening led to lakes and other water bodies overflowing and triggered flooding of several low-lying areas, including places affected last week in the city and on the outskirts, they said.
The Disaster Response Force personnel, the staff of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and police swung into action on Saturday night itself, evacuating the marooned.
In a near repeat of the scenes witnessed last week, the basements of several apartment complexes were flooded by the rain waters and people were seen walking in knee-deep water in some areas.
A video showed some autorickshaws getting washed away in a flooded street.
In a rain-related incident, a five-year-old girl died in the early hours when a wall collapsed in Hyderabad's Mangalhat area, civic officials said.
The MeT office has forecast more rains in parts of Telangana till October 21.
Heavy rains wreaked havoc last week in parts of the state, including in Hyderabad, claiming over 50 lives.
The state capital bore the brunt as a depression dumped the heaviest rains (nearly 20 cm) for October since 1916 on Tuesday and triggered flash floods.
The rains abated since Wednesday with the flood water receding in most parts while the government, in a preliminary estimate, pegged the losses at over Rs 5,000 crore.
However, since Saturday night, several parts of Hyderabad and neighbouring districts were again battered by torrential rains with Saroornagar in adjoining Ranga Reddy district recording the maximum of 16.9 cm.
The flood situation remained grim in four districts of Karnataka with the Krishna and Bhima rivers in spate as the Army, the national and state disaster response forces undertook rescue work, evacuating hundreds of marooned people, officials said.
Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said many villages in Kalaburagi, Vijayapura, Yadgir and Raichur districts were either completely or partially submerged due to the floods caused by heavy rains last week and he would undertake an aerial survey of the affected areas on October 21.
According to the Karnataka Disaster Management Authority (KDMA), a total of 20,269 people, including 15,078 in badly-hit Kalaburagi, have been evacuated so far by the personnel of the Army, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), besides the local police and district authorities.
There was no loss of human lives anywhere in the flood-affected areas, whereas two cattle died in Vijayapura, KDMA Commissioner Manoj Rajan said.
A total of 111 villages in the four districts have been affected by the floods, caused by heavy rains and water released by dams in neighbouring Maharashtra.
Officials said the Bhima river continued to remain in spate in Kalaburagi, Vijayapura and Yadgir districts, while the surging Krishna river has affected villages in Raichur.
Bhima, the major tributary of the Krishna river, has been in spate for the last one week due to torrential rains in neighbouring Maharashtra and in parts of Karnataka.
The river was flowing 4.45 metres above the danger level and 1.61 metres above its previous Highest Flood Level, the Central Water Commission said in its latest update.
According to the KDMA, as many as 55 villages across six taluks of Kalaburagi, thirteen villages in three taluks of Yadgir and 26 villages of Vijayapura are badly affected by the floods.
The authority said it has also identified 157 villages in Kalaburagi, 45 in Yadgir and 26 in Vijayapura as vulnerable.
Expressing solidarity with the flood-hit people, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured the state of the Centre's full cooperation.
This is the third time the southern state has been hit by floods in the last three months, following heavy monsoon rains.
Meanwhile, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said he will meet Prime Minister Modi to seek assistance for the farmers who have suffered losses due to heavy rains in Maharashtra.
The former Union minister visited Kankarbawadi and Sastur villages in Osmanabad district of the Marathwada region in the morning and interacted with farmers affected by the heavy rains that lashed parts of the state over the last few days.
Heavy rains and floods have claimed at least 48 lives in Maharashtra's Pune, Konkan and Aurangabad divisions while crops on lakhs of hectares have been damaged extensively.
