Hyderabad: In a very sad incident, a young couple got washed away while going from Hyderabad to Hanamkonda near Golla Muttadi of Station Ghanpur mandal in Jangaon district on Wednesday night, October 29.
The couple had reached Thimmampet village in Zaffargadh mandal of Warangal district at around 9 pm on Wednesday, when the bike they were riding on, got washed away in the heavy flow of flood waters on the main road between Ghanpur and Warangal.
Barigela Shiva Kumar (25), a resident of Hyderabad who was riding the bike managed to hold onto the branch of a tree, while his friend Bakka Sravya (20) went missing in the flood waters.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Narasaiah, Zaffargadh Station House Officer Srinivas and Sub-Inspector of Police (SI) Rama Rao had reached the spot, and a 30-member National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team were in search of the missing girl.
Sravya, a native of Dammannapet village of Wardhannapet mandal in Warangal district, has been pursuing her graduation at Vagdevi Degree College in Hanamkonda. Her parents have been working at a poultry farm in Hyderabad, and she was living in a private hostel in Hanamkonda town.
Even Shiva Kumar’s parents work at the same poultry farm where Sravya’s parents work.
Events leading to the incident
On Wednesday, Sravya came to visit her parents in Hyderabad, but came to know that they had left to Warangal to attend the final rites of one of their relatives.
Shiva Kumar offered to drop her at Uppal bus stop, but after reaching there, she asked him to drop her at Warangal and return to Hyderabad on Thursday morning.
As the couple’s bike reached Jangaon, heavy rain began pouring in and they both got drenched. Shiva Kumar called one of his friends who lives at Zaffargadh and sought shelter for the night, so that they could proceed to Warangal on Thursday morning.
They took a detour from Hyderabad-Warangal highway and proceeded towards Zaffargadh. As they reached Thimmampet, they saw four-wheelers and other vehicles stopped on the road, as flood waters were flowing over the road through a canal underneath it. Though the people cautioned them not to proceed further, Shiva Kumar didn’t pay heed to them and continued driving on the flooded road.
The bike skid and the couple were tossed into the flood waters. While Shiva Kumar managed to come out by holding the branch of a tree, Sravya got washed away.
As of Thursday evening, October 30, Sravya couldn’t be located. The police officers concerned couldn’t be reached immediately.
Differently-abled man dies of hypothermia
In a heart-wrenching incident, a differently-abled person who spent the entire night in the rain died of hypothermia in Athmakur mandal of Hanamkonda district on Thursday morning, October 30.
Nagelli Anandam (60), resident of Athmakur, was stuck in the rain on Wednesday evening and took shelter near a pan chop at the new bus stand in Athmakur throughout the night, as he was unable to go home.
On Thursday morning, the locals noticed him shivering in the strong, chilly winds and tried shifting him to a local hospital. The doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.
Anandam was unmarried and was taking care of his mother through the Cheyutha pension of the state government, and also by working as a ‘Van Sevak’ in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
Tata Ace overturns, 2 families rescued
In another incident, two families travelling in a Tata Ace four-wheeler were trapped in the flood waters on the outskirts of Chennaraopet mandal on Narsampet- Nekkonda main road, when their vehicles overturned due to the heavy flow of the water near Bathukamma Mori on Wednesday, October 29.
G Suman and Satish, residents of Ammapuram village of Thorrur mandal of Mahabubabad district, along with their families, had gone to Vemulawada Raja Rajeshwara Swamy temple, and them to Medaram on Monday, to offer their prayers to the deities.
When their vehicle overturned near Chennaraopet, another auto driver named Sai, who witnessed the incident, rescued them all and pulled them to the shore.
Meanwhile, 15 people were rescued by the police and disaster response teams from Sai Nagar and Santoshi Matha colonies under the limits of Mattewada police station, after they got inundated with flood waters on Wednesday night.
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