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The Hindu
The Hindu
National
Special Correspondent

Cloudburst leaves city in shambles

City’s fragile infrastructure has yet again fallen victim to the heavy rain accompanied by strong winds that lashed the city early on Wednesday.

Several areas were inundated, houses collapsed, trees and electric poles were uprooted, nalas overflowed, residents were tormented by tedious power outages extending into the whole day.

The intense cloudburst which began around 5 a.m., continued unabated for the next one hour, waking the city abruptly from a hot and humid night. Several trees and electric poles were uprooted under the impact of wind, while loud thunderclaps and lightnings gave people jitters even indoors.

As per the data available from the automatic weather stations, Marredpally received the highest rainfall close to 9 centimetres, followed by Musheerabad and Alwal at eight centimetres. Saroornagar, Trimulgherry, Malkajgiri, Kapra, Bandlaguda, Hayatnagar, Amberpet, Asifnagar, Balanagar, Saidabad, Charminar, Himayatnagar, Uppal, Bahadurpura, Nampally and several other localities received heavy rainfall.

Inundations were reported from several areas including Kalapather, Uppal, Dilsukhnagar, Begumpet, Yakutpura, Marredpally, and other areas. Open nalas overflowing gave commuters a hard time, while manholes bubbled up everywhere, not leaving any space for pedestrians. Colony roads became streams in areas such as Malkajgiri where inundation is a routine every time it rains.

GHMC has pressed its Engineering, Sanitation and Enforcement wings into service in order to drain the flood water from inundated areas.

In Secunderabad Zone, water stagnation was addressed at 54 locations, and fallen trees were removed from seven locations. Four members were injured in a house collapse incident at Golnaka in Amberpet. An electricity pole was uprooted. A total 32 Emergency Response teams were formed with 156 members to provide immediate relief in the zone.

In Moosarambagh, water stagnation was cleared in 35 locations, and trees fallen were removed from the roads at three locations.

Khairatbad zone was the worst hit, with 71 locations of inundation and 42 tree falls, which were cleared by GHMC instant response teams.

A statement from GHMC informed that the Enforcement wing received 48 complaints till 1 p.m., pertaining to tree falls and others.

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