India: Cloudburst brings Hyderabad to its knees

Hyderabad: Heavy rainfall, caused by a cloudburst over Hyderabad, has brought the city of 10 million people to its knees derailing normal life.

The downpour was so intense that thickly populated colonies, arterial roads and the IT hub in the western suburb received more than 11 cms of rains within three hours.

Rain related accidents claimed three lives and caused a night long traffic snarl on the main roads of the city as they were submerged under four feet of water.

Two people, including a 14 year old boy, died when the wall of a temple collapsed in Peerzadiguda area in the north-eastern suburb of Hyderabad. In another incident, the wall of a mosque collapsed in Asifnagar area damaging parked cars.

A 40-year-old woman Ania Bai was washed away in a flooded rivulet in Tandur under Viqarabad district while she was trying to save her two daughters.

Emergency squads of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and the State Disaster Relief Force tried to clear the way for thousands of cars and two wheelers.

Under water throughout the night

Mehdipatnam-Tolichowki road towards the Hitec City and Atapur Road along the Airport Express Way and the entire Shaikhpet area was under water throughout the night. Thousands of commuters, unable to cross the flooded roads, waited helplessly for hours for the traffic jam to clear. Those going to the airport to board flights were among the worst hit.

“The waterlogging during the evening rush hour led to massive traffic snarls in several areas including Secunderabad, Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills,” said Anil Kumar, Joint Commissioner, Hyderabad traffic police.

Disruption in power supply left many parts of the city in darkness adding to the woes of the citizens.

The situation was the same in several parts of Old City and the GHMC’s emergency lines were flooded with calls for help.

This was the heaviest rainfall this year as the monsoon is coming to an end. After overnight havoc, intermittent rains continued on Thursday as the Indian Meteorological Department has forecast more thundershowers over the next 48 hours.

It was reminiscent of August 2000 when a similar cloudburst had caused extreme rainfall of 24 cms within 24 hours forcing the administration to seek Navy and Air Force help to rescue the families stranded in flood water.

Apart from Hyderabad, several districts of Telangana also recorded heavy rains creating a flood like situation.

GHMC authorities have sounded a high alert in the city in view of forecast of more rains and asked the people to remain indoors.