Traffic flow was disrupted due to incessant rain in the city on Tuesday, both during the morning and evening rush hour. Waterlogging, sand bars on roads, potholes and cracked manhole covers added to the chaos.
The road stretch near Ravindra Bharathi was closed during morning hours affecting traffic flow from Tank Bund to Nampally area. In many places including Masab Tank, Mehdipatnam, and Attapur, concrete manhole covers were damaged, forcing commuters to take evasive measures affecting traffic flow.
While a number of flyovers that dot the city provided temporary rain shelter to two-wheeler riders, it didn’t help moving traffic. “Notice the rainwater discharge pipes on the flyover? None of new SRDP flyovers built by MVR have good quality drains. Don’t even know how they keep getting contracts for all new flyovers,” posted one user on Twitter as others shared images of heavy outflow of water from the flyovers onto the roads.
Gachibowli in western Hyderabad received heavy rain since evening, resulting in waterlogging on roads and many pockets plunging into darkness as power supply was disrupted. Tall trees in some areas swayed dangerously as vendors packed up early for the day.
For most part of the day, however, the rain, often a steady drizzle, ensured people went about work as usual. With many IT campuses shut and the bustle missing at many commercial establishments, traffic remained nowhere near the pre-COVID levels, thus posing limited trouble to road users. Making it easier for the residents were also some of the new infrastructure developments such as the flyover and underground drains.
Tree falls
Parts of Secunderabad Cantonment areas were under a sheet of water. Traffic was disrupted from New Bowenpally to Tarbund Cross Roads as rain water overflowed near the Muslim graveyard.
Bumper to bumper traffic was witnessed from New Bowenpally to Tarbund. A tree got uprooted near Tarbund throwing traffic out of gear. Similarly, rainwater was overflowing near Old Bowenpally checkpost. Traffic police personnel were deployed to clear the traffic snarl.
Similar scenes were witnessed on the Suchitra Cross Roads to Old Alwal. An overflowing nala near Father Balaiah Nagar made it difficult for the motorists to drive on the flooded road. A big tree fell on the road in front of Begumpet traffic police station bringing traffic on the Begumpet to Paradise road to a grinding halt.
Padma Colony behind Shanker Mutt was completely under water. Kothi, Kachiguda and Narayanguda areas went without power from 7.30 p.m. Several colonies in Gachibowli were without power while gated community dependence on diesel generator backup was high.
Traffic police on toes
Traffic police stayed on their toes for most part of the day, clearing waterlogging points and sending out information about affected areas: “Slow movement of traffic from CTO Junction, Paradise Junction, Rocha Bazar, Ranigunj towards Karbala Maidan Road”; “Slow movement of traffic from Rasoolpura, Chutneys Begumpet, Fire Station towards Paradise X Road,” and “Waterlogged at Chitra Dargah Mahankali commuters kindly note and take alternate routes to reach destinations.”
The struggle with blocked drains didn’t stop even in the evening as Bahadurpura police pitched in to help DRF and GHMC teams to clear water pathways in the Puranapul area.
Twitter user Gulam Amer posted: “The Traffic Police in Hyderabad always help people. In rainy season I feel that they do more than GHMC.”