Scary images of brimming Hussainsagar threatening to overflow, cars floating in flooded streets in Bholakpur, and gushing and swirling water racing through streets flooded timelines in social media, as nearly 9 cm rain drowned parts of Hyderabad. As citizens got marooned in their apartments and cars, what they clicked and shared with their cellphones went viral within minutes.
#Hyderabadrains began trending on Wednesday morning, as rain intensified right from morning, and social media became the go-to place for alerts, updates, warnings, jokes, and memes.
Urban Development Minister K.T. Rama Rao took to social media to warn about the heavy downpour and threat of building collapses, just as it began to pour. But not everyone was happy.
Harnisha Soma targeted the sloppy communication by tweeting: “#HyderabadRains the worst part of @GHMCOnline people r that they never inform before opening a pothole @TelanganaCMO #Disgusting :/”
Heart-warming storiesAt 2.03 p.m., Joy Darla tweeted a heart-warming video from his home at Kartikeya Nagar near Nacharam showing a noisy bunch of youngsters guide traffic. As the rain flooded the road and only one thin stretch was usable, the youngsters parked themselves on either side directing the traffic.
Yards away, Aditya Mopur tweeted a video from a bus of a flooded street between Habshiguda and Tarnaka, with the water sloshing the footboard. Then there were the good Samaritans: Ammar Kanchwala tweeted, “If you get stuck in #HyderabadRains near Redhills/Lakdikapul. Feel free to drop at my place! Just Call at 960153XXX.”
“Nobody picked up the offer. Last year when something similar happened in Bangalore, I posted it on Facebook and some people crashed at my place. But I guess this time in the rain it was difficult to access Twitter and get this information,” said Mr. Amaar, who works in Accenture.
Commuter horrorThen there were horror stories about commutes that stretched from four hours to cover 20 km to two hours for short distances. “That kind of a day when you want to get to office but cab guy is asking you almost a month’s salary to drop you there #Hyderabad Rains,” tweeted RJ Vidya. Also viral was a screen grab showing a surge fare of Rs. 3,566 for a trip in a ride-sharing app between Secunderabad and Raheja Mindspace.
Though #hyderabadrains was created by Vinay Agarwal @vka27 on August 28, it began trending on Wednesday morning as citizens woke up to a working day where it was pouring outside.
