Depression in Bay of Bengal plummets mercury in Telangana

Hyderabad: Denizens of Telangana were in for a surprise as the weather suddenly changed and temperatures plummeted as Hyderabad witnessed rain around 1 pm on Saturday.

According to weather office, this was due to depression over southeast Bay of Bengal, south of Paradeep in Odisha. Areas under the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation limits were hit by gutsy winds and rain and the city witnessed the usual scenes of waterlogging and trees getting uprooted resulting in traffic blockage causing problems for the vehicle users.

A car was stuck in a pothole on Road No 12 in Banjara Hills. Police and local people had to struggle to pull it out. On Road No 67, a huge tree got uprooted and fell on the powerlines and crushed a scooter that was parked nearby.

Similar incident took place at Aaramghar as well. Traffic jam was witnessed near Punjagutta Metro station, Liberty, Abids and other places.

Human loss was also reported in the old Mahbubnagar district. Roads in several areas witnessed waterlogging and at many places trees got uprooted.

In a freak incident, a farmer couple were killed when an iron shed near a toll gate, where the couple was taking shelter in the rain, collapsed under the impact heavy winds. This incident took place at Mannanur village in Midjil mandal. The gusty winds with a speed of 40 to 50 kilometre per hour played havoc in some areas of the old Rangareddy and Medak districts. Property and crop damages were reported due to heavy winds.

The current depression is likely to intensify into cyclonic storm and Telangana is likely to get more rains with gusty winds in the next 24 hours. The IMD predicted that light to moderate thunderstorm accompanied with light to moderate rain and lightening very likely to affect some parts of Kamareddy, Khammam, Komarambheem and Sangareddy districts. It may be accompanied with strong winds reaching about 32 kilometre per hour.

Meanwhile, State Disaster Management alerted all the district authorities to take necessary safety measures in the areas which were hit by heavy winds. District officials were instructed to shift people living in dilapidated homes to safer areas.