Rains lash Hyderabad, city comes to standstill

Hyderabad : Heavy rains accompanied by thunderstorms lashed the city on Wednesday for about two hours and brought city traffic to a standstill where even ambulances could not move forward.

As usual, the streets were flooded with rainwater, potholes turned into muddy patches and roads witnessed massive traffic snarls. On top of it, a baby crocodile was found in KhairtababadChintal Basti nala. No one knows how it came there. Initially, it caused some scare among the people but later the forest officials came and took away the baby crocodile. The Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a yellow warning till September 30. People from different localities complained of waterlogging. Dirty water was seen gushing from manholes and nalas overflowed.

Areas like Mehdipatnam, Rajendranagar, Attapur, Kondapur, Khairtabad, Banjara Hills, Nampally, Begumpet, Madhapur, Hitech City, Alwal, Malkajgiri and parts of Old City also received massive rainfall and witnessed waterlogging.

Motorists had a harrowing experience due to massive traffic jams. In many places, it took over two hours to clear the traffic in the city. The worst affected areas were Madhapur - Hitech City, Tolichowki - Shaikpet, Kukatpally, and below the PVNR expressway. Other areas like Begumpet, Secunderabad, Tarnaka, Somajiguda, Banjara Hills, and Khairtabad, also witnessed traffic problems. The basement of several residential apartments was inundated. Efforts were on to pump the water out at many places. Nalas overflowed. In view of the Ganesh Immersion on Thursday, the police asked the general public to avoid coming out unless it was a must. The police and officials told the organisers and participants to plan their processions based on weather updates.

City Mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi directed the officials and monsoon emergency teams to be vigilant. Meanwhile, netizens posted their grievances and asked people to avoid the manholes. “Avoid manholes or else you will reach directly to the Musi River,” posted Surya Reddy. Another citizen posted on X, “Had a race between me and the bus from Punjagutta x road till Khairtabad metro station. I won the race by reaching first by walking and the bus was still way behind stuck in traffic,” posted T Balaji.