Heavy downpour floods Hyderabad streets; strands commuters for hours

Heavy rain on Saturday night brought Hyderabad to a standstill, flooding key areas and stranding commuters for hours. Nampally recorded 11.75 cm rainfall, with GHMC and civic teams battling waterlogging, fallen trees, and debris to restore traffic flow.

Hyderabad: A festive weekend turned nightmarish for many families in the city with the heavy downpour in several parts of the city and suburbs on Saturday night.

The downpour which started around 8 pm continued till late into night and left scores of commuters stranded at Nampally, Charminar, Khairatabad, Hayatnagar, Musheerabad, Amberpet, Bahadurpura, Asifnagar, Saidabad, Bandlaguda, and Shaikpet.

The intensity of the rainfall like in recent episodes has been quite high with Nampally recording 11.75 cm rainfall in just couple of hours followed by Malakpet which saw 10.63 cm rainfall on Saturday night.

Public transport services including city buses, RTC buses and private travel buses, were caught in traffic jams for nearly three to four hours as major stretches filled with knee-deep floodwater.

Teams from GHMC, Hydraa, HMWSSB joined by the police personnel tried to clear waterlogging points that caused heavy traffic jams in Lakdikapul, Ameerpet, Kukatpally, Amberpet, Hayatnagar, Punjagutta, Musheerabad, Amberpet, Nizampet, Gachibowli, Mehdipatnam.

Amid the incessant downpur, teams struggled with relief efforts, clearing debris near catch pits and culverts, removing fallen trees and branches and deploying heavy pumps to drain the floodwater.

Highest rainfall in Hyderabad on Saturday night:

* Nampally: 11.75 cm

* Malakpet: 10.63 cm

* Khairatabad: 9.4 cm

* Goshamahal: 9.2 cm

* Asifnagar: 9.1 cm