HYDERABAD: It was around 11 pm on Thursday that the six-feet-wide nala, carrying excess water from the Bandla Cheruvu downstream, swelled and gushed onto the streets of Malkajgiri’s East Anandbagh area.
The rains had stopped for a few hours after nearly three days of continuous downpour. But within minutes of restarting, residents recall, water had already breached their thresholds.
“After the rain began, within no time the water entered our home. When the water reached our doorstep, the whole family began shifting electronics and food items to higher levels,” recounted Ravi Kiran, while pointing at the stains of stagnated water on the walls of his house. The flow of the water was also quite strong from previous days’ downpour.
“We thought it would take at least one to two hours for the water to rise. But to our surprise it rose up to four feet high within 30 minutes,” Ravi Kiran added.
At least five streets of the East Anandbagh area were inundated on Thursday night. The worst affected colonies were Shirdi Nagar and NMDC colony, especially the areas located either parallel to, or above the nala carrying excess water from Bandla Cheruvu.
While Streets 1 and 3 of the NMDC colony were restored to normalcy by 12 pm, the core areas were under five feet of water till late on Friday.
Around 8 am on Friday, over 20 personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were deployed in East Anandbagh, along with two rescue boats, to hand out food packets. However, many areas of the NMDC colony and Shirdi Nagar became accessible only after 12 pm, when the water receded.
“The issue with urban rescues is that we are often unaware about the terrain we are handling, moreover most by lanes are too narrow for the boat to navigate easily. It is only after water recedes that some of them will have first contact with the rescue team,” Ashish Goel, Sub Inspector of NDRF’s 10th Battalion team.
Residents unhappy with relief measures:
Many residents were enraged as this was the second time in a week that they were trapped. Some distressed families sent children and the senior citizens into deep waters to attract the attention of NDRF teams and sought drinking water.
Others rued that the supply of food was insufficient and GHMC’s incomplete road works increased the problems of the NDRF rescue teams
‘Shrinking drains’ claim roads to flow:
Residents of Alwal- Hasmathpet area woke up to a stream in the adjoining road near Mansarovar Heights on Friday morning.
The water from the covered stormwater drain, having shrunk due to lack of desilting, had overflowed on to the roads.
In full force, the stream crossed a road and fell sharply into an drain covered by a net mesh, which eventually gave away, endangering the lives of locals