Hyderabad: A one-hour spell of heavy and incessant rainfall on Saturday morning brought the city to its knees, with drains overflowing onto roads and showers leaving roads damaged, resulting in traffic jams in the first half of the day.
The problem was acute at Secunderabad's Sithaphalmandi and Tilak Road, near Abids.
At Mettuguda, open manholes posed a threat to commuters, as a wide hole under the bridge had barely enough barricading. Good Samaritans took it upon themselves to caution motorists.
While not among the worst affected, drainage water failed to recede from the bylanes of Khairatabad, Somajiguda and Banjara Hills until late evening, even as the day got warmer.
At Boggulkunta, motorists quietly parked their vehicles on the road and went in search of shelter, with the traffic not moving an inch for more than 30 minutes.
Roads from and towards Nallakunta, especially Koranti, Shivam Road and Vidyanagar, were jammed, thanks to the Musi deluge and locals protesting on the roads.
Many also took to Twitter to express their shock at the damage caused by a one-hour spell of rain.
“Looks like it rains for a couple of minutes and the city drowns (sic),” a Twitterati wrote, while another, urging civic authorities not to wait until monsoon to fix roads, wrote: “Things might not move until elections dates are out (sic).”
Many were seen calling the Telangana government out for taking pride in its work. “Is this the Bangaru Telangana or New York roads you talk about (sic),” posted a user, while another said: “How many more lives the city must lose for officials to wake up (sic).”
