Hyderabad: Sudden rains take city by surprise

Hyderabad: After experiencing severe heat conditions with above-normal temperatures in the last few days, the Hyderabad city reported unexpected moderate rainfall with thunderstorms accompanied by gusty winds on Thursday. Several city roads were hit hard by the showers and commuters were caught off-guard.

Till 4 pm, the weather was hot even though some areas were experiencing the heat wave as predicted in the forecast with maximum temperature at 41.7°C in GHMC limits. However, it started raining lightly from 5 pm. By 5.30 pm many areas reported water-logging that caused heavy traffic jams. According to the Telangana State Development Planning Society (TDPS), Quthbullapur recorded (22.5) mm rainfall till 6 pm, followed by Medchal-Malkajgiri (10.5 mm), Jubilee Hills (8.5 mm) and Mehdipatnam (7.5 mm). There was water stagnation at many places, such as from Lakdikapul to Khairatabad, Punjagutta to Begumpet, Jubilee Hills to Madhapur, Suchitra to Kompally. Due to water stagnation commuters had to face severe difficulties.

"Although the GHMC spent crores on development of roads and sewage system, it seems all such works have resulted in a big failure. Only a 30-minutes shower surged rainwater stagnation on roads resulting in huge traffic jams at different areas," said Syed Ali, a commuter, who was stuck in a traffic jam at Madhapur. The traffic was badly hit in the evening. In Secunderabad vehicles were stuck in traffic jams for more than an hour due to water stagnation. Slow movement of traffic was witnessed in Khairatabad, Basheerbagh, Lakdikapul, Mehdipatnam, and Attapur.

The traffic police advised people to drive carefully. The GHMC and Disaster Response Force (DRF) teams were also on alert. Most areas where water stagnation was experienced were not cleared till 7 pm. In areas like Madhapur, Jubilee Hills, Kompally, Quthbullapur, Secunderabad, Lakdikapul, Banjara Hills traffic police were struggling to clear water-logging along with the Monsoon Emergency teams. The TSDPS said in its daily rain report that in one hour several GHMC areas recorded rainfall between 2 and 7 mm.

The summer rain had an added twist in the form of hailstorm accompanied by gusty winds at Jagtial, Kumram Bheem Asifabad and Mahbubnagar districts. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) Hyderabad said the trough from east Vidarbha to south Tamil Nadu ran from south interior Karnataka across Telangana.