Rains bring Hyderabad to grinding halt

Hyderabad: Heavy rains battered the twin cities on Monday evening, with people returning to the city after the long weekend, being badly affected. Many were stranded at MG Bus Station, Jubilee Bus Station, LB Nagar and the Uppal-Warangal highway. 

There were long queues and delays at toll plazas of Korlapahad, Panthangi, Vijayawada-Hyderabad highway. Traffic had to be regulated at 13 inter-junctions on the ORR. The Chaderghat Railway Road under bridge had to be closed as it was flooded and vehicles were diverted to internal residential lanes. There was bumper to bumper traffic from Mehdipatnam to Gachibowli as the Galaxy junction was under knee-deep water.  Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao took stock of the situation.

Cabs, autos fleece stranded citizens
Cab companies and autos were quick to hike their prices, but in some places even they were unavailable. 

There was widespread rain accompanied by thunder and lightning in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts on Monday evening. The old city area recorded the most rain — 12 cm in Bahadurpura.

Citizens trying to call the GHMC’s emergency number found it was out of service. 

Flooding in urban areas was out of control as Monday was a holiday for the municipal corporation and state agencies. 

The thunderstorm warning is operational till October 3 and heavy rainfall is predicted for Tuesday as well.