Arrival of monsoon brings Hyderabad to knees

Hyderabad: After months of scorching summer heat, monsoon has finally hit the State in the wee hours of Thursday, but with a bang. As usual, the much-awaited rains not only brought a respite from the soaring temperature, but at the same time, left a trail of disruption and destruction on the very first day.

The heavy downpour, which commenced around 3 am in Hyderabad, left the denizens in dismay as the normal life went haywire within a short span of time. Many colonies especially in the low lying areas were inundated with knee-deep rain and sewerage water, main roads besides lanes and bylanes were flooded, making them resemble rivulets and streams. As usual, power supply in many areas got disrupted.

Several localities in the twin cities including Jubilee Hills, Banjara Hills, Panjagutta, Madhapur, Mehidipatnam, Ameerpet, Malakpet, Begumpet, Alwal, Bowenpally and many other areas recorded rainfall ranging between 7.5 to 9 cms. The rains were accompanied by heavy winds, thunder and lightning.

With the colonies inundated and roads flooded, the citizens were pushed to numerous difficulties in procuring their daily needs like milk etc. As the footpaths were completely submerged, the resident in many areas had to wade through knee-deep water to go and get their milk supply, breakfast,

vegetables etc. Motorists had a testing time in manoeuvring the flooded roads to reach their destination from their homes. Managements of private schools declared a holiday in view of the rain havoc. As the rain water flowed like streams on main roads, motorists faced numerous hurdles in avoiding the open manholes. There were many cases of motorcyclists and even cyclists falling and getting hurt.

A woman was injured when a wall in Vanasthalipuram collapsed and she had to be rushed to a hospital. A private bus got struck in the floodwater under the Malakpet bridge leading to disruption of traffic. The police had to divert the traffic to alternate routes.

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) officials, in an unusual move, had advised the people not to out venture in two-wheelers unless required as it would take a long time to drain out the water on the main roads. City Mayor Bonthu Ram Mohan asked the GHMC officials to be alert and attend to any distress call. What is intriguing is that despite the past experience, especially last year, when the rains caused a havoc all over the State capital, the State administration, especially the civic authorities, seemed to have not geared up to prevent flooding of roads and colonies.

One of the main reasons for the roads getting flooded due to rains was non-removal of silt from sewerage pipes and drains. Though the State administration, especially the GHMC and the concerned Minister K T Rama Rao, had assured all steps to avert any problems to the citizens from rain havoc,

Thursday’s scenario on the water-clogged colonies and roads amply exposed the failure on the part of the concerned authorities. The residents in and around Bowenpally area in Secunderabad cantonment were pushed to untold hardships as the Ramannakunta lake breached leading to flood and sewerage waters entering their houses.

The whole family in every house in the area was forced to tend themselves to drain out the rainwater. The residents alleged that non-completion of laying of drainage pipelines was leading to flooding of their houses due to breach in the tank. It is alleged that the tussle between the local authorities and the Defence authorities was resulting in the non-completion laying of drainage pipelines which in turn was causing innumerable hardships to the residents during monsoon.