In a terrifying video, a man was seen walking straight into an open drain in Hyderabad on Saturday night amid heavy rain. His body has been found.
The man, a techie, was seen walking in ankle-deep water, seconds later the cellphone video shows him falling into the storm water-filled drain in Manikonda locality under Narsingi PS limits of Cyberabad. As many as three Disaster Response Force teams, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and police were looking for the man, identified as Rajinikanth.
It has been raining non-stop in Telangana and several coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh due to cyclone Gulab, which crossed the Bay of Bengal coast near Kalingapatnam on Sunday night, weakened into a depression after leaving a trail of destruction.
Hyderabad was hit by heavy rain on Saturday night, leading to waterlogging and slow-moving traffic in several areas.
Extremely heavy to heavy rain has been predicted in the region for three days. A red alert has been declared in north Telangana and Hyderabad.
In Andhra Pradesh, rescue operations were carried out in the coastal districts of East Godavari as colonies turned into lakes. In Visakhapatnam, roads turned into rivers and standing crop over several thousand acres has been lost. A flash flood advisory has also been issued in vulnerable areas even as the region braces for more rain.
Earlier in the day, the weather office issued a Flash Flood Risk (FFR) alert for Telangana for the next 24 hours. In its forecast, the India Meteorological Department said the watersheds in the districts of Badradri Kothagudem, Khammam, Adilabad, Bhuvanagiri, Asifabad, Mancherial, Nirmal, Warangal, Peddapalley Karimnagar, Rajanna Siricilla, Jayashankar Bhupalpalle, Mulugu, Jagitial, Mahbubabad, Janagoan can expect flash floods as chances are moderate to high during the next 24 hours.