Hyderabad: Heavy rain throws city out of gear

Hyderabad: The city came to a near halt on Sunday as several areas were swept by heavy rains accompanied by strong winds, besides water logging and traffic congestion throwing life out of gear.

Heavy rains accompanied by strong winds resulted in waterlogging, traffic congestion and caused inconvenience to commuters in Rajendernagar, Uppal, L B Nagar, Begumpet, Mehdipatnam, Dilsukhnagar and other areas. Several roads in the Old City like Malakpet, Yakutpura, Talabkatta, Shalibanda, Bahadurpura, Golconda, Tolichowki, Dabeerpura, Chaderghat and Chanchalguda witnessed heavy water logging. The motorists had to struggle to wade through the water at many places up to four feet. Vehicles parked in front of shops were inundated.

According to the Telangana State Development & Planning Society (TSDPS), Charminar received the highest rainfall at 71.8 mm, followed by Asif Nagar with 69.5 mm, Nampally with 69 mm, and Golconda with 57.5 mm.

The rains started on Saturday night, where Khairtabad recorded 14.3 mm of rainfall, followed by Kukatpally with 10 mm. Despite the rainfall, the City on Sunday woke up to moderate temperatures ranging between 29 and 32 degrees Celsius.

According to the Telangana State Development and Planning Society, although the City witnessed above-normal rainfall in June, the past week saw below-normal rainfall levels. Due to heavy rain, and water logging, traffic movement was severely affected at Punjagutta, Somajiguda and Praja Bhavan, Begumpet flyover, Mahaveer Hospitals, NMDC and Medwin Hospital. At Rajendranagar- PVNR Expressway Pillar No 194 Road was inundated and the traffic was halted on the entire stretch. Traffic police were deployed at various junctions to regulate traffic, and commuters were advised to explore alternate routes. The DRF teams received 24 emergency complaints, including uprooting of trees and water stagnation. The IMD has advised people to avoid taking shelter under trees, as it may be dangerous. However, the IMD predicted that temperatures would hover between 32 and 33 degrees Celsius until June 26.