Heavy rains lash Hyderabad; life comes to standstill

Hyderabad: After a brief lull, heavy rains lashed several parts of Hyderabad on Friday bringing the normal life to standstill. Traffic came to a halt on all major roads for hours. At many places, it took over two hours to cover one km distance.

Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and state Home Minister Mahmood Ali's were also stuck in the traffic for hours.

Scindia later tweeted over the sorry state of roads in the city. He expressed his disappointment at the state of the roads in Hyderabad. A distance that could be covered in 10 minutes has taken over 30 minutes, he said.

Roads at many areas were replete with water and GHMC workers were seen struggling to clear the overflowing drainages. Drainages in many low-lying areas were overflowing and water entered the houses.

The areas where massive traffic jams were witnessed were Koti to Ameerpet, Gachibowli to Secunderabad, Kukatpally to Abids, Secunderabad to Jubilee Hills and Khairtabad to Panjagutta. Hundreds of vehicles were seen stuck in the traffic. While it was nightmarish experience for cars and four-wheelers, people on two wheelers faced worse situation. On one hand, they were getting drenched due to rain, at some junctions, traffic was not allowed to move for long time to give junction clearance for VIP vehicles.

"It was a real hell that I experienced on the Khairtabad-Panjagutta section as even lanes and by-lanes saw a chock-a-block. On one hand it was pouring from top and on the other there was ankle-deep water on roads. I saw hell here," said Hari a scooterist. "From Somajiguda to Banjara Hills it took one hour said Akshara," who hired a cab to reach home from her office. The efforts made by the traffic police to clear the traffic jam could not help much.

According to officials, Trimulgherry recorded 63.3 mm of rainfall followed by Hayathnagar 62.5 mm, Kapra 60.8 mm, Marredpally 53 mm, Uppal 50.8 mm rain.