HYDERABAD: Hyderabadis, who have been experiencing hot and humid weather over the last few days, woke up to heavy rain and thunderstorms from 3 am on Wednesday which lashed several parts till 8 am. The city recorded an average rainfall of 63.1 mm as per the Met department. As far as Telangana’s capital city was concerned, Wednesday was the second wettest day in May over the last decade.
Several parts of the city were inundated and a deluge-like situation prevailed in low-lying areas. These included Saroornagar, Malkajgiri, Amberpet, Yakutpura, Karwan, Kavadiguda and Begumpet. Colonies in IS Sadan, Baghlingampally, Lower Tank Bund, Gokul Nagar in Tarnaka, Chikkadpally market lane were also flooded with rainwater. Later in the day, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation cleared the water-logged roads with motor pumps.
In some parts of the city, rainwater gushed into houses and residents were seen trying to protect their belongings. Apart from the rain, uprooted trees and electricity wires proved to be another headache for citizens who worried that they might touch live wires while trying to move to dry ground. At Dhobi Ghat in Yakutpura, stranded families, especially children were brought out safely by boats.
Low-lying areas in Amberpet were submerged and in Nallakunta, a huge tree fell down. At Kamala Nagar, four persons were injured when bricks fell on a asbestos roof of a newly-constructed house. The injured were quickly rushed to Osmania Hospital for treatment.
There was water stagnation on roads in Kukatpally, disrupting vehicular traffic and many colonies were inundated. Drains overflowed on to the roads in many areas. Punjagutta, Begumpet and Secunderabad which generally have high vehicular movement witnessed traffic jams after the rains.
GHMC to the rescue
The GHMC, in coordination with all the departments, carried out relief operations. MA&UD Minister KT Rama Rao, who was touring Sircilla on Wednesday directed officials to carry out immediate repairs to flood-prone areas in the State. Stagnated water was cleared in 71 areas of Khairatabad zone, while 42 fallen trees were removed.
About 325 officers from different departments and public representatives took part in immediate relief measures. A total of 48 complaints were lodged with the civic body.
Asaduddin Owaisi moves things along
Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi provided emergency support to inundated areas and spoke to Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar seeking help. He was assured that affected people will receive relief & rehabilitation in accordance with existing norms
Missing Ministers
Citizens affected by the heavy rain and power cuts wondered where local ministers like Talasani Srinivas Yadav, Malla Reddy and Sabitha Indira Reddy were when they needed them. Also conspicuous by her absence was Hyderabad Mayor Gadwal Vijayalaxmi.
Some citizens expressed anger at IT Minister K T Rama Rao who boasted about Hyderabad’s infrastructure and roads only recently at a CREDAI meet. Referring to Rama Rao’s dig at poor roads in neighbouring AP on that day, a citizen @rmkr_pegs tweeted, “Where’s your friend now @KTRTRS. First look at flaws in your State before commenting on others.”
Another netizen @SairamRayudu put up a caustic tweet: “Free boat ride, banana ride and bumper ride in Hyderabad.. All are free of cost. Don’t miss the chance. Please contact KTR.”
Power outages in several areas
The gales that accompanied the heavy rain that lashed Hyderabad on Wednesday morning has resulted in power blackouts in several parts causing inconvenience to people. Several consumers took to Twitter to complain about the problem to the authorities. The power supply remained erratic. It was off and on in Prakash Nagar, Begumpet.
The situation was more or less similar in RR Nagar, Bowenpally. In Afzalnagar Colony, Malakpet, Namalaguda where the outage lasted for over two hours. At Lal Bungalow, there was no power for hours since 5.30 am, complained consumers. The areas which had power supply disruptions included SR Nagar, Saleem Nagar colony in Malakpet, Deepthisri Nagar, Ram Nagar, Ramanthapur, Lalitha Nagar in Nagole, Sagar Society, Banjara Hills, Amberpet, Chaderghat area, Pensionpura in Langer Houz, Prestige Park in Kompally. TSSPDCL had a stock reply that due to rain, the 11kv feeder had tripped and that the power supply would resume soon. TSSPDCL CMD G Raghuma Reddy directed officials to take necessary measures to clear broken tree branches from poles and restore the power supply as early as possible.