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Hyderabad: Nine
people, including two women and three children, were killed in
incidents of wall collapse in Hyderabad as heavy rains lashed the
city since Friday night, throwing normal life out of gear and
inundating over 50 colonies, officials said.
Five people, including a woman, were killed when the compound wall
of a factory fell on their huts in Balanagar area on the outskirts
in the early hours of Saturday, police said. Three of the victims
are labourers from Madhya Pradesh.
In another incident, four members of a family were killed when the
wall of their house collapsed at Adityanagar in Hafeezpet. A
woman, her two daughters and a son were asleep when the wall
collapsed, a police officer said.
The incessant overnight rains inundated 53 residential colonies in
different parts of the city. Residents spent sleepless night as
water gushed into their houses, damaging their belongings.
Four students were injured when a wall collapsed and fell on a
nearby school building in Balanagar area.
The government has announced Rs.1 lakh ex-gratia for the families
of each of those killed in the two incidents.
The rains receded Saturday, providing some relief to the people in
inundated areas.
Earlier, in the morning when many areas in the city were
water-logged, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC)
commissioner Krishna Babu has appealed to people not to venture
out of their houses unless it is unavoidable.
He told reporters that the GHMC emergency squads pumped out water
from several areas which were inundated due to overnight rains. He
said the GHMC had opened six control rooms to receive complaints
of water-logging.
With heavy rains lashing several parts of Telangana and coastal
Andhra regions since Friday, Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy
reviewed the situation at a high-level meeting in Hyderabad. He
directed all district collectors to be on alert and take
preventive measures to avert loss of lives and property.
The chief minister, who later visited some inundated areas in
Khairatabad, voiced concern over the encroachments on water
bodies, affecting the flow of storm water. People complained to
him that despite repeated requests, the officials failed to
redress their grievances about flooding of their colonies.
Normal life came to a standstill and traffic on main roads in
Hyderabad was thrown out of gear as thoroughfares turned into
cesspools. Overflowing manholes and the pits dug by various
departments added to the woes of the commuters.
A car on one of the roads in the busy Kukatpally area was
completely submerged in the water while a car and two bikes were
washed away near Hitec City railway station.
Two to three feet water was seen in several houses in residential
areas like Bowenpalli, Kukatpally, Rajendernagar, Dilsukhnagar,
Saidabad, Uppal and Toli Chowki.
According to department of disaster management, Hyderabad received
a rainfall of 15.2 cm between 8.30 p.m. Friday and 8.30 a.m.
Saturday.
The heavy rains once again exposed the poor civic infrastructure
in the city, causing severe hardship to people living in low-lying
areas.
"We are facing this situation for the last three years and despite
several representations, the municipal authorities failed to take
any action," said a woman, whose house in Uppal area came under
water. With the met office forecasting more rains till Sunday, the
residents of low-lying areas feared the worst.
The inundation reminded of the deluge of August 2000 when 24 cm
rain had battered the city, killing 30 people and forcing civil
authorities to seek the army's help to rescue people stranded on
roof-tops.
Legislator M. Shashidhar Reddy, who is vice-chairman of the
National Disaster Management Authority, said the drainage system
in the city need to be improved. He said GHMC was not following
the guidelines framed at the national level.
Municipal Administration Minister Mahidar Reddy however said
modernisation of the drainage system in the city could not be
taken up due to ongoing works for Hyderabad Metro Rail.
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