Rain wreaks havoc in Hyderabad; trees uprooted

Two hours of rain leaves several areas water logged

Trees uprooted due to heavy rain at Madhuranagar in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

A two-hour heavy rain accompanied by strong gales played havoc in the city on Tuesday night.

About 300 trees were uprooted, 32 electric poles and transformers fell to the ground snapping power cables, more than 50 major stagnation points were formed because of a 6 cm to 9 cm rainfall which was experienced across Hyderabad and its outskirts.

As the heavy downpour began just before midnight on Tuesday, the wind speeds touched 120 to 150 kmph amidst a hailstorm.

The city’s green cover bore the brunt of nature’s fury. The western part was the most affected with trees and branches falling on either sides of the main road on the Banjara Hills-Jubilee Hills stretch.

Traffic disrupted

Traffic came to a standstill for a few hours on the SR Nagar-Punjagutta road because of uprooted trees. The situation was worse in Madhuranagar where four emergency teams of GHMC (Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation) armed with cutters struggled to clear trees till Wednesday afternoon.

A 200-year-old tree came down in Kalyan Nagar near Hasmathpet. A major portion of the 40-foot tree landed on a house but there was no serious damage to the property or the occupants. According to the local civic officials, it took hours for the workers to cut and clear the tree. Water logging on major roads and residential colonies also posed a challenge to GHMC.