A spell of thundershower accompanied with ‘squally' winds is all it took to wreak havoc with normal life in twin cities on Sunday.
Trees lining thoroughfares at several places got uprooted impeding traffic and creating gridlocks at many junctions. Thanks to the squall, one hoarding near Rail Nilayam on a private property was blown away but no one was injured.
The Iskcon temple-Gymkhana Grounds, Sangeeth theatre crossroads and Patny Centre were the worst hit. Traffic went haywire as motorists found themselves trapped because of the uprooted trees.
The Sangeeth theatre-Patny Centre stretch was blocked after a huge tree just beside Sangeeth theatre got uprooted completely blocking the path. Huge traffic jam, along the Rail Nilayam stretch, ensued as traffic had to be diverted towards Iskcon temple, where another uprooted tree also partially blocked the traffic.
Reports of trees getting uprooted resulting in traffic jams also came from AOC Centre-Marredpally stretch, Nallakunta crossroads, Narayanguda near Shanti theatre, Amberpet six number junction, Padmaraonagar, Domalguda, Tarnaka-Moula Ali stretch, Langer Houz, Yakutpura and Abids near Haridwar Hotel.
Traffic came to a grinding halt forcing authorities to divert traffic when uprooted trees completely blocked Road No. 35 at Jubilee Hills, Road Nos. 10 and 12 at Banjara hills.
The intensity of the wind was such that almost all parts, especially colonies from Secunderabad reported uprooting of trees. Complaints from colonies in Tarnaka, Nacharam, Moula Ali, A. S. Rao Nagar, Sainkipuri, AOC Centre, East and West Marredpally reported incidents of trees getting uprooted.
A few parts in Marredpally also received hail stones for a little while.
Harrowing time
The traffic police had a harrowing time clearing clogged roads because of the uprooted trees and power cables lying unattended on the roads. “Our staff had to do the job themselves to let vehicles move till the arrival of municipal and power utility personnel, which only happened after the top officials were contacted,” said a traffic official.
Normal phenomenon
The Hyderabad MET Department officials maintained that thundershowers accompanied with squally winds were quite normal during this part of the year in twin cities. “The thundershowers were not widespread and only a few areas received nominal amount of rain along with squally winds. It is quite natural phenomenon during peak summer. The normal temperature for the next one week will hover between 42 and 45 degrees in Telangana,” said Hyderabad MET Director M. Satya Kumar.
