Hyderabad Traffic

Hyderabad
Aug. 17: When it rains, they say, it pours. And so it did on Monday, when the city recorded 11.23 cm rain, the highest so far this reason. There is more in the offing on Tuesday, Met officials said.
The rain brought the city to a standstill, leaving one person dead and almost all roads and low-lying areas waterlogged. Vehicles stalled on roads, setting off massive traffic jams, several areas suffered power cuts and trees were uprooted across the city.

One person died at Venkateswara Nagar Colony in Qutbullapur when he slipped into a drain that was covered by water. About half-a-dozen two wheelers got washed away near Rail Nilayam in Secunderabad. Tapovan Colony in Saroornagar, Madhavaram and surrounding colonies in Kukatpally got completely inundated. The GHMC considers only water standing at more than 6 inches in height and 50 metres in breadth as “stagnation.” It found only 20 such points in the city, while dozens of roads where slightly less water was standing were ignored.
The corporation sent out 20 teams comprising about 400 personnel to clear water logging, according to Mr Dhan Singh, the GHMC chief engineer. GHMC officials said that since this was the first heavy rain, not many low lying areas were affected.
Water Board officials formed emergency teams to clear the blocks on main roads to allow the rain water to flow out. “We are taking up diversion of water and our emergency teams have been formed with 10 people in each to clear the blocks,” said T. Krishna Babu, MD, Hyderabad Metro water supply and sewage board. The Police Control Room received an estimated 2,000 complaints between 6 pm and 9 pm, most of them on traffic snarls. The fire services call centre on 101 received several complaints too. Fire services officials sent seven fire engines to pump out water from residences but only two of them could reach the destinations.