Downpour, Lightning Cripple Life In City

Heavy rains accompanied by dark clouds and thunderbolts in Hyderabad on Monday evening rattled the citizens.

The sun shone as usual till 4 pm, but later dark cumulonimbus clouds quickly engulfed the sky. It started pouring in the Old City first, and the showers soon spread to the entire city. The city witnessed 10 cm of rain in just 3 hours.

Several people confined themselves to their homes wary of the thunderbolts and lightning - a person did get electrocuted in the Old City. Vehicular traffic came down to a trickle across the city, and at several places the power supply was off, too.

Rain water also flooded many low-lying areas, including even areas that do not normally witness such flooding. Several colonies in Kukatpally, Bowenpally, Malkajgiri, ECIL, Mehdipatnam, Khairatabad, Nallakunta, Santosh Nagar, Puranapul and Dilsukhnagar reported water-logging and flooding. Low-lying areas were inundated as rain water started gushing from the nalas, and several ground floor houses and cellars saw accumulation of water.

Several citizens returning from the festival holidays by road were stranded at MGBS and L B Nagar. Cabs and autorickshaws jacked up prices with cab-booking apps displaying high surge pricing. Several passengers at the MGBS bus terminal were stranded for several hours.