Poor stormwater drainage system leads to floods, say Hyderabad residents

HYDERABAD: Few areas in the outskirts of the city continue to remain waterlogged, while the stagnant water was cleared in many as there were no rains since Thursday. 

A visit to Ayyappa Colony and Hanuman Nagar in Bandlaguda exposed the lack of proper stormwater drainage system and poor desilting works. Scenes of residents wading through the waterlogged colonies were seen in the locality on Friday.

These colonies are inundated with knee-deep water and water gushed into houses forcing the residents living in the ground floors to shift their household articles to safer places. As the monsoon is expected to intensify in the coming weeks, residents say that they are yet to recover from the impact which was created by last year’s deluge.

Nandu of Hanuman Nagar said that the problem of flash floods is a perennial problem during the monsoon that they have been facing. The residents of the colony have been regularly reminding the authorities to address the water logging problem but it falls on deaf ears, he added. An Ayyappa Colony resident Rajesh pointed out that the authorities have been absent from the scene and the residents are forced to clear the debris and muddy water themselves.

The heavy rainfall which caused havoc in the city in the last two days has also triggered a mosquito menace in several residential areas due to stagnated water on roads.  

To address this, the entomology wing of GHMC has commenced 100 days of intense anti-larval activities across the city.

Speaking to Express, A Rambabu, Chief Entomologist (GHMC) said that they have identified a total of 414 areas which are prone to floods and inundations. On Friday, special teams visited flood-hit areas to check breeding sources and sprayed chemicals.