Heavy rain spell leaves a trail of destruction in Hyderabad

Heavy rain on Friday afternoon left behind a trail of destruction in Hyderabad as rainwater flooded homes, forced evacuations and led to wall collapse incidents. The rain which averaged about 10 cm across the city, led to collapse of a boundary wall in Barkas area at 4.20 p.m. However, nobody was injured as a passing car on the road moved out of the range of the wall. In Padma Colony in Nallakunta, three families were evacuated after flood waters entered their homes. Rain water entered Paigah Colony in Secunderabad area. A similar situation prevailed in Chinmaya Marg, Mirjalguda with floodwaters marooning households for hours. 

Meanwhile, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has ordered officials to be alert in view of the heavy rains in Hyderabad. He advised them to work in coordination with various teams on the ground. He said that they should respond to public complaints immediately and take action.

Rain lashed southern and northern parts of Hyderabad.
| Photo Credit:
Nagara Gopal

Surpassing the predictions by weather pundits by a leap, torrential downpour brought the city to its knees on Friday, flooding the roads and forcing the traffic to a grinding halt on a number of stretches.

A viral photo of two ice cream vendors, pushing their carts across the road in knee deep water at Gachibowli Biodiversity Junction — with the iconic triple decker flyovers in the background– provided the bespoke setting to tell the story of a city besieged. Another video showed the Kothaguda-Kondapur flyover turn into a pool of water.

The day which started with sunny weather, a tad humid, got enveloped in stormy clouds post noon, developing into massive downpour by early evening. At several localities in the northern part of the city, it rained non-stop for more than two hours, clocking the highest rainfall of over 11 centimetres by 6 p.m.

Data from the automatic weather stations revealed that Bowenpally and Begumpet received the maximum rainfall of 11.5 centimetres by 10 p.m., with Nacharam close behind at 10.1 cm. Uppal recorded over 10 centimetres, Malkajgiri, 9.7, Bandlaguda, 9.5, and Musheerabad 9 centimetres. Chandrayangutta, Barkas, Amberpet, Quthbullahpur, and other locations recorded over 8 centimetres.

Serilingampally, which received around seven centimetres of rainfall, took the worst beating, with flood water inundating the roads at Madhapur, Gachibowli, Raidurgam, Hitech City and Kondapur areas. With arrival of heavy flood, the Hussainsagar lake brimmed with water, inching towards its full tank level of 513.41 metres by 5 p.m.

Commissioner, Hyderabad Disaster Response & Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) A.V.Ranganath informed that the recently revived Bathukamma Kunta lake received heavy inflows due to the rain, which otherwise, would have flooded the roads and colonies.

Teams from the Disaster Response Force under HYDRAA, together with the Traffic Police and monsoon emergency teams, worked overtime to clear the roads of stagnant water and vehicles. HYDRAA control room received emergency calls from Masab Tank, Hightech City, Ayyappa Society, Gajularamaram, Kukatpally and Hafeezpet areas, seeking clearance of inundation.

A statement from HYDRAA said the stormwater drain at Patny overflowed and flooded the colonies nearby, from where residents were evacuated using boats. Mr. Ranganath toured the area in a boat and monitored the rescue operations.