IAF rescues five stranded cattle grazers from flooded area Telangana’s Sircilla

Two Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters were pushed into a rescue operation to airlift five stranded cattle grazers from the flooded area along the swollen Manair river, to safety in the rain-ravaged Rajanna Sircilla district on Thursday (UGUST 28, 2025) afternoon. They were stuck there since Wednesday afternoon.

The heavy rain and flooded Manair river hampered the rescue operation on Wednesday, necessitating the deployment of choppers to airlift the stranded persons, sources said.

The district authorities managed to deliver food and drinking water to the five stranded cattle grazers using drones on Wednesday. The family members of the five persons heaved a sigh of relief following the successful rescue operation by the IAF.

NDRF rescues person from flooded stream

In a swift rescue operation, the personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) rescued a villager, who had taken refuge on a tree in a flooded stream at Lingannapeta village in the same mandal, using an inflatable boat shortly after Wednesday midnight.

Many parts of north Telangana received heavy rainfall overnight throwing normal life out of gear, cutting off road link to several villages due to overflowing streams in Nirmal, Adilabad, Jagtial and elsewhere in the region.

Godavari river in spate

Incessant heavy rain disrupted normal life in parts of Telangana’s tribal heartland spanning Mulugu and Bhadradri Kothagudem districts on Thursday. Water level in the Godavari River has been on the rise at Ramannagudem in Mulugu district and Bhadrachalam in Bhadradri Kothagudem district following release of water from upstream dams including Kadem and Sripada Yellampalli projects coupled with incessant rains in the catchment areas of the river.

Meanwhile, in a statement, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar said, “The rescue operations at Narmala have been successfully completed with five stranded persons airlifted to safety. Two more Army helicopters are expected to arrive in Sircilla to provide immediate assistance as required”. He thanked Defence Minister Rajnath Singh for deploying two helicopters for rescue and relief operations.