Incessant downpour left the city on its knees

The incessant downpour on Wednesday and Thursday left the city on its knees, with roads waterlogged, residential colonies flooded, infrastructure broken and key junctions turning into traffic bottlenecks.

Boduppal, Medpally, Bandlaguda, Nagole and Nagaram were the worst hit. Residents continue to remain fearful, especially those in colonies adjoining the Musi River.

Residential colonies in Osmannagar and Saifnagar of Balapur were inundated by backflow from the Venkatapur lake. Shirdinagar, Kalyannagar and Patelnagar in Malkajgiri were also inundated, and the residents had to seek help for water, milk and other essentials.

According to DRF, waterlogging was severe in Langar Houz, Bandlaguda and Mailardevarapalli areas on Thursday morning, which they cleared, while they are pumping out water from near the Dwarka Hotel turning in Khairatabad. They said that eight water stagnation points have been identified in all.

The directorate of Enforcement Vigilance & Disaster Management (EV&DM) meanwhile appealed to residents to



restrict themselves to their homes and only step out in case of an emergency.

The water level of Hussainsagar continued to remain perilously close to the maximum, with the level reaching 513.65 metres at 7 pm, exceeding the full tank level of 513.41 metres. Rainwater from the twin reservoirs of Himayatsagar and Osmansagar continued to be released into River Musi, while authorities are monitoring areas on the banks of Musi.

As of Thursday morning, two sluice gates of the Osmansagar reservoir were opened for one foot, with an inflow of 700 cusecs and an outflow of 216 cusecs. Two sluice gates were also opened at the Himayatsagar reservoir, up to a height of two feet, with an inflow of 1,300 cusecs and an outflow of 1,350 cusecs.

On the day, the DRF received 73 complaints, of which 37 were of tree fall and 30 were of waterlogging.

Educational institutions being shut down and IT firms allowing work-from-home, however, provided some relief for commuters during the rush hour.