Hyderabad: The intense thunderstorms in Hyderabad and across parts of southern Telangana and Rayalaseema on Monday night were exactly the same weather phenomenon that was observed in New Delhi recently where nine people had died.
Low-lying areas in Hyderabad, including the LIC Colony in Marredpally, Shamlal Building in Begumpet and colonies behind Vivanta hotel were inundated and further rains are likely to create a flood-like situation.
Trees were uprooted in areas of the old city like Nadeem Colony in Tolichowki, Sharda Nagar Colony, Gudimalkapur, Bahadurpura, Hussaini-alam, Vattepally and Karwan and many areas witnessed blackouts as electricity poles fell.
“The pre-monsoon showers were a result of the incursion of the cold North-Westerly winds from the northern hemisphere and its intersection with warm winds from the Bay of Bengal which created this severe instability and resulted in thunderstorms accompanied by gales that were estimated to be of 75 nautical miles per hour (138 kmph). This was the same phenomenon that happened at Delhi, but the gale speed at Delhi was above 100 nautical miles per hour (185 kmph),” said K. Seetharam, director of Meteorological Centre, Hyderabad.
He, however, clarified that this was not the end of summer as the season would continue till the onset of the Southwest monsoon in the state, which is expected in the next 72 hours.
Heavy rains with gale force winds occurred in parts of Telangana and Rayalaseema and isolated parts of Coastal Andhra Pradesh on Monday night. While the temperatures dropped in many districts, the highest maximum temperature of 44ºC was recorded at Rentachintala and Adilabad.
In the city, water logging was reported at Raj Bhavan, CM’s Camp Office and GHMC head office whereas trees were uprooted at many places including Nampally Jr. College, Aziznagar Nampally Police Station Road, Bazarghat, Sarojini Devi Hospital.
Saidabad received the highest rainfall of 58 mm, followed by Amberpet with 48.75 mm, LB Nagar at 48.25 mm and Malkajgiri with 45.5 mm.
A tree fell down near the Race Course in Malakpet blocking road (Photo: DC)
Potholes filled with rain water caused inconvenience to motorists as well as pedestrians (Photo: DC)
