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.
Green Cover Lost
The city’s green cover bore the brunt of the 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 was obstructed 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.
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A 200-year-old toddy tree in Kalyan Nagar near Hasmathpet fell to the nature’s fury. A major portion of the 40-ft 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. Water logging was reported from the areas of Begumpet, Khairatabad, Jubilee Bus Station, Adarshnagar, Alwal, Saroornagar and Nampally. As cars and bikes waded through the waters, there were instances of some vehicles getting stuck and the occupants calling out for help. The residents were seen alerting the authorities after sighting damaged electric poles or dangling power cables. Power cables snapped at Road no. 12 creating a scare among the locals in Banjara Hills and a transformer fell to the ground in Panjagutta. In GTS colony and in Jubilee Hills electric cables were cleared by the civic officials in the wee hours of Wednesday. In several apartments and gated communities, window panes and walls were damaged due to the strong winds. Traffic police booths in Saidabad, Banjara Hills, Punjagutta and other major cross roads were also damaged.
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GHMC acts swiftly
As the Minister for IT and Municipal Administration, KT Rama Rao engaged with the citizens and forwarded their complaints to the concerned authorities on Twitter, the GHMC pressed the emergency teams into service along with sanitation workers, engineering officials and zonal officers.
The staff of city’s civic body worked round the clock along with members of the NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) to restore services and bring back normalcy.
The Mayor B. Rammohan and GHMC Commissioner B. Janardhan Reddy were seen reviewing the situation in the affected localities.
The GHMC also made an appeal to the citizens to not throw plastic and waste materials on the streets during rains as the water will be unable to flow to the manhole points.