Thunderstorm helps bring down mercury levels in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Heavy rainfall accompanied by a hailstorm hit the city during the afternoon, giving residents a cooler Sunday. With the temperature having risen to 40 degrees celsius and more, the sudden rains has caused a plunge in temperature. The heavy downpour began by afternoon and continued till evening, with hailstorms in many parts of the city such as Secunderabad, Musheerabad, Sainikpuri and others.

While speaking to this newspaper, IMD head Y. K. Reddy said, “There is an upper air trough travelling from Chattisgarh to Tamil Nadu that is passing through Telangana. Our temperature levels were around 40 and the humid winds have converged with the trough, causing the heavy rainfall.”

Citing it as a mid-day phenomenon, he stated that the rain was likely to continue till around 8 pm. He also stated that the city can expect more rainfall till Tuesday.

The rain and the humidity will lead to a decrease in the temperature for the rest of the week, says IMD officials. It will be a welcome respite from the hot and dreary afternoons that the city has been experiencing in the past few weeks.

However, the drop in temperature will continue only till the end of the week. “The hailstorm is not unusual. Thunderstorms and hailstorms have the same cloud pattern. The third stage in the severity of thunderstorms includes hailstorms, and therefore the activity shows that we are experiencing heavier thunderstorms,” says Reddy.

The gusty wind accompanied by the rain brought down trees and poles in many parts of the city. Two poles fell at Ambedkar Nagar in Golnaka which were then completely dismantled by residents and kept aside. The Rachakonda traffic police also stepped up to the task on the rainy day by removing a tree that had fallen near Uppal Genpact.

The hailstorm activity caused a lot of traffic congestion in the stretch between Begumpet to Secunderabad. The heavy rainfall also caused flooding in many parts of the city. Mr Anil Kumar, additional commissioner, Hyderabad traffic police says, “Due to water stagnation near HPS and CTO junction, people are avoiding those areas, resulting in queues forming up at other areas. Our traffic people are there to regulate and help commuters.” A bus carrying nearly 40 passengers was stranded near the Mettuguda flyover for more than four hours in the traffic.

The rainfall also affected the metro station at Parade Ground, which became stagnated with water that began to drip down, causing inconvenience to commuters. 

There was a lot of activity on social media with many residents sharing photos and videos of the unexpected downpour and expressing the excitement of many children who were collecting the hailstones. A resident from Sainikpuri said, “The whole of Sainikpuri area experienced the hailstorm and people collected the ice.

The hailstones came banging in the afternoon and many of us were quite scared as we didn’t understand what was hitting the railings, the sheds, the terrace and the window panes.”