Sudden rain brings Hyderabad to a halt

Hyderabad: The city witnessed heavy waterlogging, power cuts, choking of drains and traffic congestion late on Saturday night because of a sudden downpour that caught everyone unaware.

Unexpected rain created 34 water stagnation points, while low-lying areas in Talabkatta, Malakpet, Amberpet and other parts of the city were completely inundated. 

In Malakpet and Talabkatta, water entered houses with sewage content, creating panic among the residents.

Talabkatta resident Mr Sajeed Pasha said that despite several complaints, GHMC officials did not take up desilting of drains in the areas and Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board officials did not repair damaged pipelines even though complaints were lodged in August 2018. Rain water mixed with sewerage entered homes making lives of residents miserable. Mr Pasha said the issue was brought to the notice of higher authorities but they turned a blind eye.

“There was a foul smell the whole night,” Mrs Saira Banu, another resident, said. 

“There was no power in the area. We could not clean and had to spend the whole night like that only.”

The disaster management wing said they cleared the blockage within an hour at night. Enforcement teams sent sanitation workers in the morning and cleaned the silt on the roads, they claim.

Spillover of silt from the drains was seen in Seethaphalmandi and Saidabad near Khairunnisa and Saad masjid at Malakpet, Ushamohan Hospital at Hyderguda and many other places in the city.

This happened because of clogging of drains as desilting works had not been carried out.

Water stagnation was also noted near flyover pillar number 190 at Attapur division and pillar number 307 in Mailardevpally. 

Many bikers took shelter under Metro stations to protect themselves from the rains and this led to further traffic jams. 

The water-logging added to commuter woes on many roads and the traffic cops indulged in clearing so that they could facilitate movement of traffic.

Deputy commissioner of police traffic-1, Mr L.S. Chowhan, inspected roads late on Saturday night.

Traffic cops have cleared water-logging at V.V. Statue, NIMS Panjagutta, Mythrivanam, King Koti, Bahadurpura area, Malakpet Gunj, Narayanaguda area, Dabeerpura, Alugadda Bavi, Golnaka, Jubilee Hills area, Raj Bhavan Road and Karbala Maidan.

Many posted photos of waterlogged areas on social media and people were asked to exercise caution. 

“Non-seasonal rains are harmful and contaminated waterlogging leads to several viral diseases. Hyderabad people be safe and don’t go out in rain without precautions,” Deepthi Reddy tweeted.

Commuters too took to social media to highlight the work done by traffic cops. “Thanks to these cops the GHMC does not seem to worry at all. They leave the roads to these good samaritans to do the work which should have been done by the municipalities and not the police,” tweeted Ashok Kumar, a commuter.

“Instead of traffic cops working late nights. It is GHMC who should have fixed these issues by performing their duties and laying quality roads and pipelines. I feel so sorry for traffic policemen doing their duties out of their domain,” tweeted another commuter, R. Sandeep.

GHMC commissioner Mr M. Dana Kishore said that with the IMD predicting rainfall for the next 48 hours, corporation teams would works in three shifts to clear water-logging and participate in rescue operations if necessary. 

Mr Kishore also said that he had directed instant repair teams to immediately repair damaged roads to facilitate commuters.