Extremely heavy rainfall sends life out of whack in Telangana disrupting road and rail traffic

Extreme rainfall of 41.2 cm in under 24 hours at Bheemadevarapalle in Hanamkonda, 38 cm at Kalleda in Warangal and over 10 cm at 109 weather monitoring stations showed the widespread impact of Cyclone Montha in Telangana on Wednesday.

The rain caused waterlogging and flooding, disrupting road and rail movement across the state and disrupting train schedules across the sector. In Hyderabad, citizens woke up to light to moderate rain that continued incessantly throughout the day and night, fluctuating in intensity but rarely stopping.

According to TGDPS data, the highest rainfall recorded in Hyderabad in 12 hours was 4.4 cm in Musheerabad, followed by 4 cm in Secunderabad Cantonment, 3.9 cm in Osmania University, 3.8 cm in Chandrayangutta, 3.8 cm in Amberpet, 3.5 cm in Alwal, Quthbullapur and 3.5 cm in Kukatpally.

Various parts of the city including Saifabad, Fatehnagar bridge, Balkampet, Lakdikapul, Ayodhya Junction, Masabtank flyover, Mehdipatnam, Dhulapally, Khajaguda junction, Kothaguda junction, Raidurgam metro station and some parts of the IT Corridor were severely affected. Traffic was gridlocked throughout the day in most of these areas, but traffic eased at dusk.

Traffic police personnel from all three commissionerates – Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda and Disaster Response Force (DRF) teams from Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYRDAA) have been deployed at major junctions to clear waterlogging and manage vehicular movement.

Train services were also affected; Many trains, including the Visakhapatnam-Secunderabad Vande Bharat Express, were stranded on the tracks due to waterlogging in various parts of the state. However, operations at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport remained unaffected as visibility levels remained stable and no flight cancellations or diversions were reported.