Hyderabad: A 50 kmph gale accompanied by rain hit the city during peak traffic hours on Wednesday evening, uprooting trees and bringing vehicular movement to a standstill besides leaving several areas in the city without power supply.
Among the worst affected was Tank Bund, where a tree fell near the police outpost, completely blocking traffic.
Vehiclists on the Begumpet-Secunderabad, Ameerpet-Punjagutta-Erragadda, Tarnaka-Mettuguda, Basheerbagh-Abids thoroughfares were also caught in extended gridlocks.
Many motorists did not know what the problem was, but most of them guessed it right. “I think trees must have fallen on the road. There is a long queue of vehicles in front and behind your vehicle,” said Mr C.L. Sumit, a software consultant who was stuck in a traffic jam on Tank Bund.
“Every time it rains, the traffic comes to a halt. Earlier too it used to rain and gales used to hit the city but the traffic problem was not this bad. What are municipal and electricity officials doing,” said Mr L. Venugopal, who was waiting for traffic to clear on SP Road.
Motorists who took alternative routes too were stuck. Many motorists ran into a traffic gridlock after entering Minister’s Road to avoid the Sardar Patel road which was chock-a-block with traffic due to trees falling on the road at the police station at Begumpet, and the hockey stadium at Rasoolpura.
DCP Traffic A.V. Ranganath said police was on the roads and removed the trees at most of the places by 8 pm. The power discom’s 1912 call centre said complaints of power supply going kaput poured in from Clock Tower, Patigadda, Narayanguda, Begumpet, Shyamlal Buildings, HPS, James Street, Barkatpura, Chil-kalguda, Santoshnagar, KIMS Hospital area, SD Eye Hospital area, Kalyan-nagar, Vengalraonagar, Asmangadh, Bowenpally, Bhavaninagar, Hussaini Alam, Nanakramguda and Kondapur. Though power supply was restored before 8 pm in many areas, it tripped again, said residents.
2,000 trees lost to city storms
Despite the heat wave alert for the city, Hyderabad received 9 mm of rain on Wednes-day with winds of 50 km per hour that uprooted 21 trees and disturbed 26 electrical lines.
The sudden shower was witnessed between 5 and 5.30 pm. The maximum temperature on Wednesday was 40.5ºC with a relative humidity of 89 per cent.
Rain was recorded at Secunderabad, Tank Bund and Marredpally, roughly similar to the path that the May 15 storm took. Both IMD and the website accuweather.com failed to predict the rain.
About protecting trees from being uprooted during storms, GHMC commissioner B. Janardhan Reddy said, “The city has lost 2,000 trees to thunderstorms. The prime reason for trees falling is that the roots do not go deep enough. Some trees have been cut down as precautionary measures.”
He said the government had planned to take up the Haritha Haram programme on July 11 when over 1 crore saplings will be planted. “Keeping in view the fallen trees, the government is planning to plant saplings that can withstand heavy winds.”
The commissioner appealed to citizens to help the GHMC in identifying trees, electrical poles and other objects that had fallen and complain to 100 or 040 – 21 11 11 11 for action.
