Hyderabad: Heavy rains lash parts of city

Hyderabad : Heavy rainfall lashed the city on Tuesday and brought much needed respite from the scorching heat. After a cloudy afternoon, the city experienced a severe thunderstorm coupled with gusty winds in several parts of the city. The downpour disrupted normal life, traffic came to a halt unexpectedly leaving many commuters stranded on their way home from work in the evening.

Various areas under Greater Hyderabad saw thunderstorms, lightning, gusty winds, and hailstorms around 7 pm. Lakdikapul, Begumpet, Ameerpet, SR Nagar, Kukatpally, Miyapur areas among others witnessed severe thunderstorms and waterlogging at different locations, causing slow traffic flow for some time.

Gachibowli, Kondapur, Raidurgam, Kukatpally, Moosapet, Pragatinagar, Bachupally, KPHB, JNTU received heavy rains and roads were waterlogged and citizens were facing inconvenience. There were heavy traffic jams in many places and power cuts were witnessed in many areas due to gusty winds.

Moreover, due to heavy winds, the Bhagmati boat on Hussain Sagar Lake was swinging on water and there was a tense situation. People inside the boat were panicking. The disaster management teams of GHMC took safety measures and brought the boat to the corner areas, teams were sanctioned around the lake premises.

According to the IMD, all six zones of City, Charminar, Khairtabad, Kukatpally, LB Nagar, Secunderabad, and Serilingampally witnessed rainfall. R C Puram received the highest 79.8 mm rainfall, Gachibowli received 77.5 mm. Jeedimetla and surrounding localities at Qutbullapur mandal received 60.5 mm, 55.5 mm, and 53.3 mm of rainfall, respectively. The University of Hyderabad locality was not spared either, receiving 50 mm of rainfall.

As per the IMD, in the next three days, many districts including Hyderabad have been warned of the possibility of hailstorm with gusts of wind, thunderstorm and lightning. Orange alert has been issued.