Clear skies lift spirits of Hyderabadis
Flood waters recede in several places across Hyderabad; IMD forecasts heavy rains on October 19, 20
Hyderabad: The sun shone bright for quite a few hours on Friday, with clear skies bringing some cheer to the rain-battered city, where things are returning to normalcy except in a few areas.
Though there are no weather warnings for Saturday, the India Meteorological Department has said there could be thunderstorms accompanied by lightning at isolated places in Telangana on Sunday, with heavy rains likely on October 19 and 20. The Telangana State Development Planning Society says light to moderate rains could be expected over the next three days.
On the other hand, the flood waters were receding in most places, with the official machinery still on the job with relief operations being stepped up in affected areas. With Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao continuing to visit affected areas and issuing instructions, officials were arranging food packets, medicines and services of doctors to those in need, while the Police and the NDRF and GHMC’s Disaster Response Force teams were still toiling to trace those who went missing in the rains from Tuesday.
Several of the nearly 8,000 people who had to be shifted to relief camps have already returned to homes, with the job of cleaning up the silt from their homes now being the major task at hand. Officials are distributing chlorine tablets and asking people to be careful with drinking water and food to avoid water-borne diseases. A majority of businesses that remained shut on Wednesday and Thursday have reopened, though some in affected areas are yet to resume operations.
While several residents’ associations were still engaged in pumping out water that flooded flats and underground cellars, some with the help of GHMC, power supply was restored in most places, according to officials. There were however complaints of internet connectivity still being affected in many places, with service providers racing against time to restore these so that online classes and work from home schedules that went off track from Tuesday resume without hiccups.
Public transport too is back to normal in most places across the State, including in the State capital, where the TSRTC is resuming its normal operations in a phased manner in the background of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The State’s average rainfall on Friday was a mere 0.9 mm against a normal of 2.1 mm, while the highest rainfall recorded was 46.3 mm in Adavi Devula Palli mandal of Nalgonda district. In the GHMC area too, there was only minimal rainfall, with the highest being 0.3 mm recorded at Malkajgiri.
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