Sudden rains swamp Hyderabad

Hyderabad: With just a month left for the monsoon to arrive, the sudden heavy rain on Wednesday morning exposed knee-deep water-logging causing inconvenience to citizens. Narrow lanes in the Old Hyderabad were inundated following the rain. The roads built under the 'Smart City Mission' and road development too turned into rivers. The city witnessed heavy rainfall; it was dangerously accompanied by fear-striking thunderstorms and lightening. They resulted in heavy rain in parts of the city causing flood-like situation in several parts. Thunder, high-intensity rain and gusty winds pushed many areas into black-out for more than two hours. In the southern part of the city, people, who were asleep after celebrating Eid had to wake up immediately as water entered their houses.

They had to use boats to rescue a few people whose houses were completely inundated. The heavy rain for a short duration brought huge relief from the summer heat to people, who woke up to cool weather. On the other side, the citizens also raised question is Hyderabad ready for the monsoon? According to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) officials, 54 areas in the city saw flood-like situation.

The GHMC teams cleared water in seven areas where trees fell due to gusty winds. One electricity pole collapsed in rain and four people were injured as a house crashed in the Amberpet area.

The GHMC received more than 110 rain-related complaints on Wednesday. To address them it formed 32 teams of 156 people to carry out immediate relief measures. After the early morning heavy rain, areas under the Charminar zone, including Bahadurpura, Shastripuram, Chandrayangutta, Hafez Baba Nagar, Yakutpura, Kalapathar, Jahanuma and Falaknuma reported water-logging and power-cuts.

Water inundation was also witnessed in 35 areas of the zone. In the Khairatabad zone 71 areas were inundated. They included Osmangunj, Afzalgunj, MJ Market Road, Koti, Basheebagh Kummarwadi, Vijay Nagar Colony, Huda Colony, Bojagutta, Balajinagar, Karwan, Bapughat, Langer House, New Ganga Nagar, Goshamahal, MS Maqtha, Anand Nagar, UBI Colony (Banjara Hills), Jubilee Hills Road No 2. Ten areas experienced heavy flooding.

Commuters had to face severe difficulties and traffic jams in the morning hours. As many as 42 trees were uprooted. Residents in the Secunderabad zone complained about water on roads. In the West Marredpally area a tree fell on a car completely damaging it. The other affected areas in the zone included RTC X Roads, Baghlingampally and Musheerabad circle, which saw heavy water-logging. The Serilingampally and Kukatpally zones reported water stagnation on roads, including Narsapur X Roads Balanagar.

The flow of water increased in the Fathenagar nala. Municipal officials had to immediately remove silt and fallen trees. Tree-falling and inundation was also reported at Srini Avenue and Hightension Road. Netizens vented their ire on social media, complaining of power-cuts and flooding in many areas. They demanded proper drainage and rain water flowing system in Hyderabad.