Hyderabad, May 17: Several parts of the twin cities plunged in darkness on Sunday night after trees and hoardings uprooted by heavy winds that accompanied thunder-showers crashed onto power lines.
Power supply is not likely to be restored till early hours of Monday at many of these places as the damage was quite heavy requiring extensive repair work.
The worst-affected area is Secunderabad, including Bowenpalli, Trimulgherry and Shanti Nagar, where the CPDCL staff are working overtime to restore power supply. Banjara Hills and Begumpet were among the other areas where power supply went off as hoardings collapsed on powerlines.
According to director of CPDCL B Ravindra Reddy, too many hoardings in the city has become a serious problem as they tend to crash whenever there is a gale. “This evening the gales were very powerful,” he said, adding that at some places it was the trees that fell on the cables. In Saroornagar, a hoarding had crashed into a mainline that supplied power to several areas, he said.
Restoring the affected lines and charging the transformers at several places in the city is going to be a time-taking process, according to officials.
Meanwhile, the sudden thundershowers on Sunday evening in various parts of the twin cities, that have been reeling under a severe heatwave, took people by surprise. They, however, enjoyed the Sunday evening respite.
A rainfall of 1.6 mm was registered and a maximum temperature of 42 degree Celsius. Meanwhile, the Meteorological Centre predicted that the sky would remain cloudy and rainfall and thundershowers are likely at various parts on Monday. Due to hot winds from Chhattisgarh, changes in temperature are likely on Monday.
About a dozen trees fell and several low-lying areas and main roads were inundated with rain water. The sudden showers exposed the poor civic infrastructure leading to traffic jams in many areas. Free flow of traffic was obstructed on major thoroughfares including VST, RTC X Roads, Khairatabad, Punjagutta, Lakdi-ka-pul, Dilsukhnagar, Paradise, Ranigunj, and MG Road.
Trees fell at the Chief Minister’s office in the Secretariat, St. Ann’s High School, Sangeet Theatre, Paradise and Vijayanagar Colony.
A temporary police outpost on the Necklace Road was uprooted.
There was water-logging on the main roads, mainly near Model House at Punjagutta, MG Road, Kalaniketan at Dilsukhnagar, Mehidipatnam, Masab Tank and Begumpet.
Low-lying areas were inundated at Toli Chowki, BS and MS Maqta, Nawab Saheb Kunta, Naddem Nagar and Riyasathnagar in the Old City causing severe inconvenience to the inhabitants.
The services of the Emergency Teams of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) were found wanting at many places.
–Agencies