HYDERABAD: Just as Hyderabadis were getting ready to head home for the long festive weekend, the evening rains played spoilsport on Thursday. With Varalakshmi Vratam and Raksha Bandhan just around the corner, many had planned an early departure, but the downpour brought the city to a standstill. From choked roads and stranded commuters to missed buses and jam-packed Metro stations, the sudden showers turned what should have been a joyful start to the holidays into a frustrating ordeal.
The IT corridor bore the brunt. Traffic crawled along key stretches in Gachibowli, Kondapur, Madhapur and Mehdipatnam, with commuters stuck for hours. “I left my office in Kondapur by 5 pm, hoping to catch a bus to Warangal,” an IT employee posted on X. “I was stuck near Gachibowli for over 90 minutes. I missed my bus and had to book another one for late at night.”
Across Jubilee Hills, Ameerpet and Paradise Junction, glowing brake lights stretched endlessly. “It usually takes me 25 minutes to reach Paradise Junction from Jubilee Hills. It took me over two and a half hours today,” posted Imran, an X user.
The Metro offered no relief. While trains ran on time, crowds spilled out of stations as queues built up on the street. “I had to let three trains pass before I could get in,” said Alekya, a software engineer. “Inside, there was no room to even move my hand.”
In Madhapur, an overflowing drain turned a busy junction into a pool, forcing two-wheelers to stall and pedestrians to tiptoe along narrow edges. In Manikonda, a compound wall collapsed on a parked car after rainwater flooded an apartment complex.
Even festive shopping took a hit. Popular markets like General Bazaar, Charminar and Ameerpet pulled shutters down early, as customers huddled under awnings to escape the rain. Food delivery workers and auto-rickshaw drivers, already racing against traffic, were hit hard by the sudden showers.
43 feeders hit; power outages reported across city
The rains disrupted power supply in several parts of the city, with 43 power feeders (11kV) affected, according to the TGSPDCL. The worst-hit areas included Banjara Hills (11 feeders), Secunderabad (12) and Medchal (seven). Falling tree branches on power lines were among the major causes of the outages. However, ground staff were swiftly deployed, and power was restored in several areas. TGSPDCL CMD Musharraf Faruqui directed all field officers to remain on the ground until full restoration is achieved.