Hyderabad: Smart city' blacks out after rains

HYDERABAD: Hyderabad, which is going to be developed as a global city, is not in a position to face even a thunderstorm. Friday’s thunderstorm led to people in many areas facing darkness for the whole night. Due to the wind and thunderstorm, power supply was interrupted since 6 pm on Friday.  In some areas, power supply was restored by midnight but in others, till Saturday noon, supply was not restored. Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Company (SPDCL) officials said that due to heavy winds and rain in many areas, trees fell on electrical polls and cables which led to break in power supply. 

“For the restoration of power supply, 400 engineering staff of disaster management team was asked to help. They worked from Friday night and by Saturday noon, power supply was restored in all areas,” the officials said.  The power supply interruption had affected drinking water supply also. The officials of the Water Board said that Hyderabad city faced a water shortage of 25 million gallons due to the power failure following thunderstorm on Friday. Many areas did not receive drinking water due to this. 

Power failure had affected water distribution in all pumping stations from Krishna and Godavari water supply schemes.  The electricity department staff often take up the work of cutting trees so that the supply is not hit by winds or rain. But this is not showing any effect as the city goes into dark whenever rain falls.