Gulab batters Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Heavy rains have lashed several parts of Hyderabad and the unabated rains threw traffic out of gear. Most of the roads were flooded and water entered houses in the low-lying areas due to the impact of Cyclone Gulab.

With heavy rain forecast for the next three days, Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar has asked the residents to stay indoors on Tuesday. The Meteorological department has sounded a red alert in Hyderabad. GovernorTamilisai Soundararajanreviewed the situation with officials.

The near non-stop rain since Sunday night led to trees and electric poles getting uprooted.

The rainfall recorded was between 32 mm and 72 mm.

In the Ranigunj area, the Hyderabad Traffic Police officers along with the Disaster Response Force (DRF) teams had to struggle for several hours to clear the water-logging at the Ranigunj junction, this disrupted the traffic towards Tank Bund. Due to heavy rains, prime city circles and junctions reported water-logging. The monsoon emergency teams opened around 122 manholes to clear water. In the Neknampur area, water entered into many houses and the basement of a few apartments.

These constructions are under the full tank level (FTL) zone of the nearby lake. Several houses in the Uppal area were locked due to the fear of floods. Power cuts were witnessed in Shaikpet, Masab Tank, Sultan Bazar, Mehdipatnam, King Koti and several other areas as trees got uprooted and fell on power lines.

Though the GHMC and DRF teams cleared the tree branches power could not be restored for long hours. Some of the areas which witnessed heavy water-logging were Manikonda, Film Nagar, Dammaiguda, Dilsukhnagar, Ramanthpur, Amberpet, LB Nagar, Banjara Hills, Punjagutta and Begumpet. In Balaji Nagar in Manikonda water level has risen to 3 feet. It was more sewage than rainwater, the residents told The Hans India. They said they had brought the problem to the notice of GHMC officials last year itself but so far, no proper action was taken.

Traffic movement was at snail's pace at Masab Tank, Krishna Nagar, Sultan Bazar, Trimulgherry, Rangamahal, and Lakdikapul due to water-logging. Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar said that the state administration was ready to meet any eventuality. The civic authorities have asked all monsoon emergency personnel and teams to be on high alert.