Come September, Hyderabad remembers its rains and losses

For the old timers of Hyderabad, the Hollywood musical hit Come September and the month of September have two diametrically opposite connotations.

If the song is hummable, the month is dreaded for the copious rains and floods it normally brings.

The city’s association and fears of September go back to 1908, when torrential rains wreaked havoc on Hyderabad, then capital of the Nizam’s State. Days of non-stop rains resulted in great floods in River Musi.

Locals remember the dark days as Thughyani Sitambar . It shattered lives, killing tens of thousands of people as lakes overflowed, houses collapsed and three famous bridges– Afzalgunj, Puranapul-Chaderghat and Mussallam Jung–were washed away.

The last two weeks of incessant rains and the harrowing experiences of citizens in Hyderabad and Secunderabad brought back memories of the city’s disastrous tryst with history over a century ago.

The monsoon rains, combined with low pressure, exposed the vulnerability of the urban infrastructure to cope with its impact.

With the rain abating since yesterday, Hyderabad did avoid a close shave with a bigger disaster.

However, it came close to an all-time high rainfall in September with around 425 mm so far; on September 27, a record 153.2 mm led to flash floods. In September 1908, it rained 499 mm.

History has it that a 200-year-old tamarind tree in Osmania General Hospital saved more than 150 lives in the 1908 floods.

A group of concerned citizens visited the tree on Wednesday in remembrance. Tourists visiting Hyderabad, especially the Golconda Fort, would also recall the gigantic baobab tree – originally from Madagascar islands – on whose 25-metre diameter trunk hundreds of people took shelter.

A mark showing the height to which the waters reached was also recorded.

Over the decades, the folklore narrated about the Musi floods lingered as the city received heavy rains during September, which marks the end of the south-west monsoon.

The impact of September rains in 1994, 2000 and 2009 over the region is evergreen in people’s minds.

In 2009, the helicopter carrying then Chief Minister of the combined Andhra Pradesh, YS Rajasekhara Reddy, fatally crashed over the Nallamalla hills early September as inclement weather and torrential rains persisted in the State.

Early last century, the Musi floods woke up the Nizam’s administration to action. It led to the development and expansion of the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad.

The Nizam sought the services of Sir Visvesvaraya in the construction of a flood protection and drainage system.

The great engineer’s proposal of storage reservoirs with adequate capacity above the city to control future floods as well as measures to keep sewage from flowing into the river and prevent mosquito breeding have served their cause for decades.

Simultaneously, a dam was built under engineer Nawab Ali Nawaz Jung Bahadur in 1920 across the Musi, 16 km upstream from the city, called Osman Sagar.

Another reservoir named Himayat Sagar was added. These lakes, which were drinking water sources for the people, also helped prevent flooding of the Musi.

Recent heavy rains have revived these water bodies that were drying up.

The story has taken a completely different script in the past few decades. Urbanisation, industrial growth, haphazard constructions and exponential growth in the city’s population which now comes to around 80 lakhs, have taken a heavy toll on the resources and resilience of this 425-year-old city.

Encroachment by lakes, construction over nalas and huge concrete buildings have blocked groundwater enrichment, say environment experts.

Be it the slum or low lying areas or the high-tech Cyberabad, the lack of an efficient drainage system has been thoroughly exposed.

While in low lying areas, people got marooned and struggled to stay afloat, Cyberabad roads got choked with an array of automobiles, people stranded with the latest gadgets and offices cut off due to pools of water.

The Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, city police and TRS government were caught unawares by the enormity of the problem.

They turned to social media to issue meteorological updates and rescue operations with minimal results.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao has ordered demolition of illegal constructions over nalas and vulnerable areas which has already brought down 170 constructions with immediate effect.

However, what is required seems to be a modern drainage system for Hyderabad, which wants to be among the country’s best cities.

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