Hyderabad: Withrains continuing to pound the twin cities, which have resulted in heavy water inflows into Himayat Sagar and Osman Sagar reservoirs from upstream and opening of floodgates, low-lying areas near the Musi River have been submerged. Over 1,200 families residing along the river were evacuated and shifted to safer places.

Meanwhile, the situation has turned alarming in Chaderghat, MGBS, Moosarambagh, Puranapul and Jiyaguda, Langar Houz, and Golnaka, among others, where things have come to a grinding halt as water has been flowing onto the roads, while houses remain inundated. Adding to the woes of the residents, their vehicles, refrigerators, TV sets, and other items were fully damaged or washed away.

“We managed to take along some essentials while we were shifting to a safer place. We had lost groceries and even cooking utensils,” said Uma Maheshwari, a resident of Shanker Nagar.

The authorities supplied food and other essentials, and medical aid to the evacuated families in relief camps and those stranded in their homes through drones. DRF, NDRF, SDRF, GHMC and police, who have been put on high alert, have been taking up relief and rehabilitation works with gusto. On Saturday, Minister Ponnam Prabhakar, Mayor Gadwal Vijaylakshmi, Hyderabad Collector Dasari Harichandan and MP Anil Kumar Yadav along with officials inspected the flood-hit areas.

Earlier, in the day MLA Ahmed Balala distributed food packets and water to the stranded families in Chaderghat.

The low-lying areas in Malakpet-Chaderghat were inundated with water overflowing from the lower bridge in Chaderghat. Water entered houses located along the river in Moosa Nagar, Padma Nagar and Shanker Nagar. Mohammed Sarwar from Moosa Nagar said “It was similar to the October 2020 floods, when entire households were washed away.” According to GHMC, about 500 families in Shankar Nagar, 150 in Moosa Nagar, 45 in Durga nagar and Ambedkar nagar and 32 families from Krishna nagar near Golnaka kamela have been shifted to Krishna nagar community hall, while 55 families from the Bhoolaxmi temple vicinity were shifted to the Ghode-ki-khabar GHMC community hall. Relief centres have been set up at Malakpet Circle - City Model School, Padma Nagar Community Hall, Afzal Nagar Community Hall, the Masjid at Shankar Nagar and Arundhati Community Hall in Goshamahal Circle.

“We have been left with nothing. To save ourselves and our children, we rushed to the earmarked safe places,” rued Shantamma from Padma Nagar. As a precautionary and damage-control measure, the authorities closed Jiyaguda road, MGBS road, lower bridge at Chaderghat and Moosarambagh bridge and the outer service road.

The temporary centering structures between pillars P1 and P2 of Moosarambagh were also washed away. Having been submerged, Bapu Ghat in Langar Houz has been closed and public access restricted. In Karwan, over 20 houses spread over Mughal Nagar ‘A’, Mughal Nagar ‘B’ and Ambedkar Nagar collapsed.