Rains Cause Havoc in Hyderabad on First Day Itself!

Hyderabad: The monsoon has arrived with a bang in the twin cities. As usual the much-awaited rains not only brought a relief from the scorching summer heat but also left a trail of disruption and destruction on the very first day on Thursday.

The heavy downpour, which commenced around 3 am, made the denizens dreaded with normal life going haywire within a short span of few hours. Many colonies especially in the low lying areas were inundated with knee-deep rain and sewerage water, main roads besides lanes and by lanes were flooded making them resemble rivulets and streams. As usual power supply in many areas remained disrupted.

Many areas in the twin cities like Jubilee Hills, Banjara Hills, Panjagutta, Madhapur, Mehidipatnam, Ameerpet, Malakpet, Begumpet, Alwal, Bowenpally and many other areas recorded rainfall ranging between 7.5 to 9 cms. The rains were accompanied by heavy winds, thunder and lightning.

With the colonies inundated and roads flooded, the citizens were pushed to numerous difficulties in procuring their daily needs like milk etc. As the footpaths have completely submerged, the resident in many areas had to wade through knee-deep water to go and get their milk supply, breakfast, vegetables etc. The motorists and scooterists had a testing time in maneuvering the flooded roads to reach their destination from their homes. Managements of private schools have declared a holiday in view of the rain havoc.

As the rain water was flowing like streams on main roads, motor cyclists and scooterists numerous hurdles in avoiding the open manholes. There were many cases of motor-cyclists and even cyclists falling and getting hurt. A woman was injured when a wall in Vanasthalipuram collapsed and she had to be rushed to hospital. A private bus got struck in the flooding water under the Malakpet bridge leading to disruption of traffic and the police had to divert the traffic to alternate routes.

The GHMC officials in an unusual move had advised the people not venture in motors and two-wheelers unless required as it would take a long time drain out the stated water on the main roads. City Mayor Bonthu Ram Mohan asked the GHMC officials to be alert and attend to any distress call. What is intriguing is that despite past experience, especially last year, when the rains have caused a havoc all over the state capital, the state administration especially the civic authorities seemed to have not geared up to prevent flooding of roads and colonies.

One of the main reasons for the roads getting flooded due to rains was non-removal of silt from sewerage pipes and drains. Though the state administration especially the GHMC and the concerned minister K T Rama Rao had assured all steps to avert any problems to the citizens from rain havoc, today’s scenario on the water-clogged colonies and roads amply exposed the failure on the part of the concerned authorities.

The residents in and around Bowenpally area in Secunderabad cantonment were pushed to untold hardships as the Ramannakunta lake breached leading to flood and sewerage waters entering their houses. The whole family in every house in the area was forced mend for themselves to drain out the rain water. The residents complained the non-completion of laying of drainage pipelines was leading to the flooding of their houses due to breach in the tank. It is alleged that the tussle between the local authorities and the defence authorities was resulting in the non-completion laying of drainage pipe lines which in turn was causing innumerable hardships to the residents during monsoon.

The denizens who have been praying for rains to escape from the sweltering summer heat are now reeling under fear with the on set of monsoon. They are now keeping their fingers crossed and hoping for a better shiny day.