Trail of destruction after heavy rains pound Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: Syed Sameer, a 37-year-old resident of Hafeez Baba Nagar in Chandrayangutta, like several others in the area, had decided to remain awake through the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday as heavy rains pounded the city in the evening. He, and others, were alarmed by visuals of rainwater flowing through Al Jubail colony in Falaknuma during the earlier spell of rains, and wanted to be sure that if things went haywire, they could safeguard their families and belongings.

However, what transpired in the night was something they never anticipated. “As waters breached the Balapur Talab, it entered our streets and the water level rose to around 8-10 feet here in just 10 minutes. We did not even have time to gather our belongings,” said Sameer.As water levels rose, it flooded the ground floors of houses, rendering their residents with massive loss of property. While a few of them had already left before the rains started, a majority of them had to take shelter in their neighbours’ houses on higher floors.

Syed Jahangir, a 72-year-old man, looked shell-shocked as he sat on the collapsed boundary wall of the rented house where he stayed with his family. Jahangir had just shifted his family to a neighbour’s place amid the heavy rainfall, when the lake water gushed into his house. “I had no time to save anything else. Just yesterday, I had brought 3 quintals of rice for the family. It’s all destroyed,” Jahangir said, pointing to grains of rice on the muddy floor strewn with hyacinths.“I have lost everything, including my daughter’s laptop and printer. I had saved some money for her wedding which was to happen later this month,” he said.

With the Indian Meteorological Department predicting four more days of heavy rainfall, residents face an uncertain future with water from Balapur lake still flowing down the streets as on Sunday evening.While many have chosen to abandon their houses and shift to houses of friends and families, many do not have that option. They have made bunds out of sandbags and installed them at entrances to their bylanes to restrict water from entering their streets. On a sunny Sunday afternoon, it seemed to do the work. However, in case of another heavy bout of rain, their fates remain uncertain.

Residents furious with govt over inaction
Residents are furious with political leaders and are blaming them for the situation at Chandrayangutta. “If the government had sorted out the storm water drains or attended to the lake or made a proper outlet, then this would not have happened,” said a 56-year-old man who was temporarily migrating from the waterlogged Hafeez Baba Nagar. On Sunday, MIM chief Owaisi visited the flood affected areas in the locality.

Wedding plans swept away
For many families who had been planning the wedding of their sons or daughters, the floods swept away their cash and belongings. Syed Jahangir had saved around Rs 1 lakh his daughter’s wedding. Another resident said, “My sister’s wedding was day after tomorrow. Everything is gone. What shall we do now?”

Breach point piques curiosity 
The spot at which Balapur lake was breached has turned into a point of attraction with visitors pouring in from nearby areas to inspect the situation, with some of them clicking selfies. The entire area is strewn with hyacinths, indicating that on Sunday night, water had risen to dangerous levels there.

Social media to the rescue
Waterlogging in several areas made citizens turned to social media for help. From requesting authorities for evacuation, to informing other citizens to avoid travel to certain areas, Hyderabadis used Twitter and Facebook to good affect. A tweet, requesting help to rescue a stranded family, was retweeted by Minister KT Rama Rao, who asked DRF teams to reach there 

Hussainsagar reaches FTL, authorities on alert
Hussainsagar reached the Full Tank Level (FTL) capacity of 513.410 metres after heavy rains lashed the city on Saturday night.With steady inflows, excess water is being drained out into the downstream through the vents located near Hotel Marriott end and near BPP office, Lumbini Park. The inflows into the Hussainsagar upto 6 pm on Sunday was 2,370 cusecs and outflows was about 2,657 cusecs

People urged to vacate dilapidated buildings
In view of heavy rains being forecast for next few days, the GHMC urged the people living in dilapidated structures to voluntarily vacate their dwellings and move to safe places.  Meanwhile, the GHMC took up removal of construction and demolition (C&D) waste from 25 locations in the city and it will try carry out similar exercise in other locations, including the interior areas, in the coming days. With more rains forecast in the coming day, the GHMC has also decided to put road restoration works on hold for a few more days.