An intense cloudburst of an hour’s duration left the city gasping for breath, and brought to fore the chronic insufficiencies in public infrastructure yet again on Thursday, May 16.
By 6 p.m., the highest rainfall of over 9 centimetres was recorded at Krishna Nagar colony of Yousufguda, as per the data gathered from the automatic weather monitoring stations. Venkateshwara Colony of Banjara Hills followed with 8.8 centimetres, and Malakpet and Begum Bazar close behind with above 8 centimetres. Langar Houz, Nampally, Asmangadh, and Khairatabad recorded above 7 centimetres.
The day which began with bright sun and no trace of clouds, suddenly transformed towards the evening. It began to pour towards Northern part of the city after 3.15 p.m., which soon enveloped the whole city, accompanied by heavy winds.
Under the impact of rain, the slab of a stormwater drain got washed away in Uday Nagar Colony on Road No.9, Banjara Hills, resulting in a breach. Two-wheelers parked by the road were seen floating away in the stormwater. Several vehicles were stranded in the flood water across the city, while flood water entered the Balkampet underpass blocking the route entirely. Reports were received about cars getting stranded in the water in the underpass. The railway bridge at Malakpet too was reportedly besieged by water, resulting in heavy traffic jams on Dilsukhnagar-Koti route. Heavy water logging was reported on the Himayathnagar and Kukatpally main roads and Secretariat road too.
The blinding downpour made it difficult for the road users to negotiate their way through traffic, most of whom travelled at a very slow pace with parking lights on. Some, who felt it unsafe to venture forth, parked their vehicles near the Metro Rail stations and waited for the rain to subside. Added to the traffic woes were the traffic restrictions for VIP movement near the Khairatabad, which left motorists fuming.
Water logging was reported from across the city. Macca Colony in Bahadurpura was knee-deep in water, which made it a risky affair even to step out of homes. Stormwater gushed into colonies and homes, owing to overflowing drains in Gaddiannaram area of Dilsukhnagar. Sewage manholes overflowed with stormwater at a number of locations.
The Disaster Response Force belonging to the Enforcement, Vigilance & Disaster Management wing of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation swung into action clearing major stretches of the floodwater and fallen trees. By 8 p.m., the DRF teams received 63 complaints about water stagnation, and cleared 50 of them. Eighteen complaints were received about tree fall.
Mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi visited the affected areas including the location in Uday Nagar where the slab of a stormwater drain got washed away, and the Balkampet underpass. She issued necessary instructions to the Engineering wing officials for alternative arrangements to cover the nala. She held an emergency tele-conference with the GHMC Commissioner D. Ronald Rose and EV&DM Director Prakash Reddy, and asked them to install warning boards near the stormwater drains.
Mr. Rose reviewed the situation with the Engineering wing officials, and asked them to keep the field staff on the alert. He inspected the stormwater drain breach at Uday Nagar too, and cautioned the residents to be on the alert. He asked the citizens to venture out only in case of emergency, and requested the office-goers to leave their respective offices a little late in the evening, so as not to choke the roads.
