Tenants fleeing from flooded areas in Hyderabad

East Anandbagh: A newly-wed couple moved into a house as tenants in NMDC Street 2 in East Anandbagh last month. They brought in all new household appliances and furniture that a newly married couple generally requires before settling in. However, they had the shock of their lives following the unprecedented rains in the second week of October.

Floods and drainage water from Banda Cheruvu overflowed into their street and inundated several houses located on the ground floor. A majority of the belongings of couple were damaged. This scare made them vacate the house in less than a month after stepping in.

This is just one such example. According to BD Subhash Chandra, a retired NMDC employee, who has been living in Street 2 for more than 25 years, trucks carrying tenants' belongings are mostly seen for the last few days, indicating that they are shifting out of the place permanently. "Some tenants have moved out and more are likely to follow before the next monsoon for sure", he said.

For the last few years, nala has been overflowing on the road, but this is the first time that water entered houses in adjacent streets.

In Shirdinagar which also takes a big impact when Banda Cheruvu overflows, some houses on the ground floor are remaining unoccupied due to the flooding risk in times of heavy downpour. G Vimala, a house-maker, stated that she moved out of Shirdinagar with her family two years back and found a house on rent in East Anandbagh, but 500 metres outside of nala area which does not see water flooding problems House owners, who cannot leave like tenants and look for alternative accommodation in another area, are moving to the first floor of their houses to avoid this misery.

Meanwhile, property owners from the Balapur area on the city outskirts are vexed by with inundation problem which has become a common feature for the last few years after illegal encroachments on the Balapur lake. Some of them are contemplating to sell their properties in the coming months and move to another place in the city.

"Three to four feet water entered several independent houses in our area damaging everything. We were rescued by the NDRF teams in a boat. Just had to leave taking a few clothes with us. Due to encroachments of the lake nearby residential colonies are suffering for no fault of theirs. We are thinking of selling our independent house to avoid this misery," a house-owner, who did not wish to be named, said.