Hyderabad: Heavy rain and subsequent flooding of Telangana over the past week left a trail of destruction, with 52 bridges on national and state highways damaged, according to the reports submitted by district collectors to the state government.
While Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao directed Chief Secretary A. Santhi Kumari to submit a comprehensive report on rains and flood damage, it is estimated that paddy, cotton and other crops sown across 16 lakh acres were inundated.
The reports indicated that vegetable crops on 30,000 acres were washed away, over 700 kilometres of panchayat roads in villages and 100 kilometres of roads in municipalities and municipal corporation areas were damaged, and over 23,000 houses in towns and cities were completely or partially damaged.
The state Cabinet on Monday will discuss the funds required for repair works and compensation to affected people, and the Chief Secretary’s report will be tabled before the Cabinet for discussion and approval.
According to the reports submitted by district collectors to the Chief Secretary, 13 bridges on national highways and 39 bridges on state highways were badly damaged, affecting transportation. These need immediate repairs to restore connectivity, sources said.
The majority of the damaged bridges, 15, are in the erstwhile undivided Nizamabad district, while Karimnagar accounts for 14, undivided Warangal accounts for 10 and Adilabad accounts for five. Roads were damaged in about 250 locations due to overflow from canals and rivulets.
Department-wise details provided by the power department indicated that 5,557 electric poles were damaged in all. Under TSNPDCL limits, 538 transformers and 130 substations went under water, while under TSSPDCL limits, 34 transformers and two substations were submerged.
The panchayat raj department has estimated a requirement of Rs 30 crore to take up temporary road repairs in villages and Rs 391 crore to repair culverts that were washed away. Another Rs 42 crore is required to repair potholes at 117 locations, the department stated.
The municipal department reported that roads were damaged in 53 locations in urban areas, drainage system over 18 kilometres was damaged and 51 culverts were affected.
The agriculture department reported that crops over an extent of 10 lakh acres, mostly cotton and paddy, were inundated while crops over another 4 lakh acres, which were in the nascent stage, were also flooded.
