By Sharon Thambala

Nirmal (Telangana), Jul 25 (IANS): It literally rained fish at Nirmal town in Telangana during the recent flood and heavy downpour, making people run on the roads to catch fish.

People caught fish as big as 5 kg which swam out following breaches in three lakes.

"The washed out fish were so plentiful that a few people from the fishermen community even filled up a tractor truck with fish to sell them away," Uma Maheshwar told IANS.

People from the fishermen community, known as Gundla, netted many fish and sold them.

Maheswar (45) is from Dilawarpur village near Nirmal, which also experienced a flood of water as well as fish. He said there are 6,000 voters in his village and each and every household managed to get at least one fish.

Incidentally, kotha cheruvu (water tank) in the village, whose fish were not caught for more than two years, supplied a good number of the fish after getting washed out.

Maheshwar said he never saw fish swim on the road and end up being an easy catch for the villagers, especially on the Manjulapur to Nirmal road.

There were so many fishes that the prices came crashing down, disappointing the fishermen community and enabling the villagers with sufficient free fish to feast on for three days.

"I never saw fish coming onto the road. I have been observing floods since 25 – 30 years. This big rain never occurred in July. Generally it would be September or October," he noted.

According to the villager, the breached lakes destroyed almost all the paddy fields and other crops in Dilawarpur village and Nirmal.

As two of the three tanks are empty now, Maheshwar and his fellow villagers are lamenting that precious water which would have been useful for agriculture has just flowed out waste.

Not just the fields, the flood fury has also totally destroyed roads.

Nirup Kumar Rajaram, a Nirmal native said GNR Colony got totally inundated in the flood waters.

"My plot also got inundated because of a nearby swollen stream," said Rajaram.

Dilawarpur sarpanch lamented that farmers in Sarangpur and Dilwarpur have suffered immense losses due to the recent flood.

Nirmal Collector Musharraf Ali Faruqui said the post-flood relief operations are continuing, ensuring the wellbeing of households and proper sanitation of the affected areas.

"Water has cleared from the inundated houses which are affected by the heavy rainfall that occurred on Thursday at GNR Colony," said Faruqui, juxtaposing images of flooded condition and receded condition.

He thanked the fishermen community for rescuing many people stuck in the flood for their timely support and leadership. NDRF teams have also lent a helping hand in rescuing the colony people.

Along with Forest Minister Indrakaran Reddy, the collector braved the rain and actively went around trying to mitigate the flood damage.

The rain and flood may have washed up some fish but they caused extensive damage to the farmers and their fields.