Hyderabad: Incessant rains in Hyderabad for the past 24 hours have left many parts of the city under water and thrown normal life out of gear.
At least nine people were killed in two incidents of wall collapse in the city. With the drains overflowing, rain water has entered several localities and colonies in and around the city.
Emergency squads of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation were flooded with calls for help.
The weather department said the city recorded rainfall of 15.2cms in 12 hours, which was a record of sorts and it revived memories of August 2000 when the city experienced 24cms of rainfall in a day leaving the city inundated.
The rain, under the influence of a depression in the Bay of Bengal, started on Friday evening and was still continuing on Saturday.
The city experienced massive traffic jams as major roads in Khairatabad, Punjagutta, Ameerpet, Moazzam Jahi Market, Mehdipatnam, Malakpet and Uppal were under several feet of water. Vehicles were moving at a snail’s place wading through the clogged water. Vehicles broke down at many places adding to traffic woes.
The police said four members of a family, a mother and three children, were killed when their house collapsed during the night due to the rain in Hafeezpet area. In another incident in Balanagar, five workers including a woman were killed when the boundary wall of a factory collapsed. Three of the workers belonged to Madhya Pradesh.
In Manur mandal of Medak district schoolchildren had a miraculous escape when the school building collapsed as the students were offering prayers outside.
Rain water had flooded the cellars of several multi-storied complexes in Manikonda and other areas in the outskirts of the city. Colonies in Alwal were also flooded.
Several houses were flooded in Mallepally area of the city.
Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy visited the rain-hit areas of the city and assessed the situation. He expressed shock and grief over the loss of life in the rain-related mishaps.
The government has announced an ex gratia of Rs100,000 (Dh6,653) to the kith and kin of the persons who died in the accidents.
The inclement weather has forced the cancellation of several flights from Shamshabad international airport.
Due to the heavy rain, river Musi was in spate in downstream areas of Nalgonda district. The water was flowing above the Amberpet bridge. It had also cut off the road connection between Bhongir and Bibinagar subdistricts of Nalgonda district.
Apart from Hyderabad, several other parts of the state, specially in coastal Andhra and Telangana region, were lashed by heavy rain. Visakhapatanam also recorded rainfall of 10cms during the last 24 hours.
The meteorological department has warned that the current spell of rains will continue until July 23. it has forecast another depression in the Bay of Bengal from July 25.
