Rain leaves Hyderabad choked, again

Hyderabad: For the second day in a row, heavy rains caused by a cyclonic circulation lashed several parts of the city on Wednesday afternoon, bringing traffic to a halt and civic authorities' ill-preparedness to the fore.
Water-logged roads, choked streets and vehicles breaking down in the middle of the road were a common sight in many areas hit by the four-hour spell of rain.Among the worst hit were stretches adjoining Moazzam Jahi crossroads, Nalgonda crossroads, Malakpet market and Jubilee Hills. Long, winding traffic jams quickly formed in areas such as Banjara Hills, Toli Chowki, Mehdipatnam, Begumpet, Madhapur, Secunderabad, Raj Bhavan Road, Nacharam, Srinagar Colony, Masab Tank, Langer Houz, Nampally, Moazzam Jahi Market and Aramgarh bridge.
"It took me nearly four hours to complete the 15 km drive between Dilsukhnagar and Banjara Hills," said Anand Gummadi, who pointed out that the traffic police's inefficiency in managing the congestion added to the chaos at Moazzam Jahi crossroads.
While the traffic police appeared clueless on how to manage bottlenecks, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) authorities also struggled to resolve complaints that began pouring in from many parts of the city. According to officials of the civic body's emergency cell, 450 water logging complaints and 200 complaints about trees getting uprooted were reported on Wednesday.
"A majority of the water logging complaints were received from places such as Raj Bhavan Road, Masab Tank, Lakdi-ka-pul and Toli Chowki in the central zone," said an executive engineer from the cell.
In low-lying areas such as Malakpet market, where 200 to 300 metre stretches lay inundated, a shopkeeper was even forced to demolish the retaining wall of his shop so that the water gushing in from the main road could flow into a bylane.
"Attempts to steer clear of heavily congested roads by taking a longer route were also futile as I was met with an even heavier congestion on the alternative route. To make matters worse, many four-wheelers broke down in the middle of roads, forming long traffic jams behind them. Many junctions, in spite of being manned by two or three traffic police personnel, lay choked. If denizens had not joined in to help those stranded on the roads, the situation would have been much worse," rued Sriram S, a resident of Journalist Colony in Jubilee Hills.
While the city recorded an overall rainfall of 50 mm, Monda market received the highest amount of rainfall at 44 mm. It was closely followed by Malkalgiri (41.5 mm), Himayatnagar (35.5 mm) and Asif Nagar (33.25 mm).
According to officials of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the downpours are a result of the southwest monsoon, coupled with a cyclonic circulation over Vidarbha, the extent of whose trough lies in close proximity to Telangana.