Rain lashes western part of Hyderabad

HYDERABAD

Unexpected cloudburst on Saturday evening left Western Hyderabad in knee-deep water and heavy traffic jams, leading to severe hardships for evening commuters.

Starting at about 6 p.m., it poured continuously for nearly two to three hours in Serilingampally and surrounding areas, which later spread to other localities in Kukatpally, Khairatabad, Begumpet and Punjagutta. Notably, there was not a drop of rain in the central and eastern parts of the city.

The weather monitoring station at Kakatiya Hills in Madhapur recorded the highest rainfall at close to 9.5 centimetres, followed closely by Shaikpet and Jubilee Hills at 9 centimetres, at 8 p.m. Madhapur and Hydernagar received more than seven centimetres of rain, while Gachibowli, KPHB and Hafeezpet recorded over six centimetres. Attapur, Miyapur, Gachibowli, Balanagar, Tolichowki, Quthbullapur, Mothinagar, Mossapet and other localities too received heavy rainfall, as per the data recorded by the automatic weather monitoring stations.

Vehicles waded in almost waist-deep water in several localities, as vouched by the video clips uploaded to the social media from Tolichowki, and the stretch under the PVNR Expressway near Upparpally, at Attapur. Commuters had great difficulty in reaching their destinations, as several stretches went deep under water, making it difficult for vehicles even to venture crossing them.

Owing to the flooding of roads and the resultant traffic jams, commuters made a beeline to the metro rail stations, especially on the Raidurgam-Nagole and Miyapur-LB Nagar corridors, leading to a stampede like situation at the stations. Trains were jam packed with passengers during the evening trips.

Meteorology Department predicted likelihood of light to moderate rains or thundershowers, and intense spells at times, in the city for the next two days.