GST official dies as LB Stadium tower falls

Hyderabad: A cloudburst on Monday evening took Hyderabadis by surprise leaving two persons dead and inundating several places.

The metro city, which experienced cloudy weather in the afternoon, had the whiff of rain towards evening. With gusty winds reaching a speed of 78 kmph made denizens run for cover.

A flood light tower fell due to strong winds killing a GST official. Another child died in a house collapse in Chaderghat.

The LB stadium mishap occurred when GST superintendent of Hyderabad Commissionerate T Satya Subramanyam and his colleague M Ramesh were returning home.

However, Ramesh narrowly escaped with fractures to his legs. Several parked cars around the stadium area were crushed under the impact of the floodlight tower.

Both the GST officials were shifted to Care Hospital in Nampally. A 5-year-old boy Navaneet Raj resident of Chaderghat died when tin roof fell on the boy due to heavy rains.

The GHMC commissioner, who received information, reached LB stadium and ordered GHMC Disaster Response Force to clear the area.

Many areas had witnessed traffic jams due to the flooded roads and traffic had to move at snail's pace. Traffic police took up initiatives to clear the traffic jams and made movement of vehicles easy.

Alwal, Qutbullapur, Malkajgiri, Serilingampally, Tarnaka, SR Nagar, Jubilee Hills, Banjara Hills, Saidabad, Malakpet, Ramanthapur and Habsiguda were the most affected due to high-speed winds and thunder showers.

According to the Indian Meteorological Department, the cyclonic circulation extending up to 1.5 km above mean sea level over Chhattisgarh neighbourhood has become less marked.

However, the trough at 1.5 km above mean sea level now runs from south Chhattisgarh to south interior Karnataka across Telangana and north interior Karnataka.

The trough at 1.5 km above mean sea level from south Marathwada to south interior Karnataka across north interior Karnataka has merged with the above trough.

IMD also said a low-pressure area is likely to develop over equatorial Indian Ocean and adjoining southwest Bay of Bengal to the southeast of Sri Lanka around April 25.

It is likely to intensify into a depression during subsequent 48 hours. It is very likely to move northwestwards towards Tamil Nadu coast across east coast of Sri Lanka.

These rain activities had a distinct pre-monsoon feature to them as these commenced during late afternoon and evening hours and were accompanied by strong winds.

IMD also said these rains may continue for more than 24 hours in and around the city.