Hyderabad: Few hours of rain floods 150 houses

Hyderabad: The heavy rainfall on Tuesday night not only resulted in traffic jams but also in flooding of over 150 houses in the twin cities. Residents in Nagmayangunta and Himayatnagar were the worst hit. More than 35 complaints were registered with the central emergency wing of the total of 65 reported.

Sardar Ali Khan, assistant emergency officer of the Disaster Management Team, told City Express that the city received 32.7 mm of rainfall. The traffic came to a standstill at several places mainly due to water logging. “It takes water some time to clear stagnant water and as rainfall was heavy in certain areas, more problems were reported from there,” explained the assistant emergency officer.

The highest number of complaints were received from Circle 9, mainly from the areas of Musheerabad, Ramnagar, Nallakunta, Vidyanagar, Amberpet, Kachiguda and Himayatnagar. Street number 18 in Himayatnagar was one of the worst-affected places. “Rainfall in certain areas was normal, hence major problems were recorded only at certain points like Himayatnagar,” the official said. A tree also collapsed on Wednesday morning near the ESI hospital, he added.

The water logging was so bad in Circle 9 that four pumps had to be used to drain water out of the roads. GHMC Commissioner, MT Krishna Babu inspected the affected areas and issued directions to the officials to clear the water as soon as possible.

The GHMC and the Traffic Police had held a few meetings in the last month to ensure better coordination during heavy rainfall and clear blocks for the smooth flow of traffic at key junctions in the twin cities. However, despite their best efforts - the traffic police were positioned at several places in the city on Tuesday night - the traffic was held up for over three hours at some places from Khairatabad to Uppal.

Officials say Hyderabad’s drainage system is capable of handling only two centimetres of rainfall per hour and although the government had sanctioned `450 crore 10 years ago to develop and make a better system, only `150 crore has been used for the purpose, as clearing encroachments is not easy.