Hyderabad, September 02: When S Ranga Ram was frantically calling the emergency helpline of the power supply department, the only thought running through his mind was of survival.
“The entire neighbourhood could have got electrocuted saab,” he said, sitting on the damp remains of what used to be mattresses used by his family.
The scene was from Saicharan Colony at Vidyanagar, where storm water drain walls collapsed, leading to massive flooding of the surrounding areas.
A few houses ahead is Ashok Yadav’s ground floor room, which is precariously close to a number of electrical cables. “As soon as the water levels began to rise, we ran out of the house and took shelter on the main road. There was no time to take any of our belongings,” he said.
The fear of electrocution, which had gripped part of the neighbourhoods of Nagamayakunta and Saicharan Colony had left the dwellers jittery, even as the afternoon wore on at the flood affected areas on Monday. Simhadri Rao, an elderly resident of Saicharan Colony claimed to be the among the first persons to alert the Power Supply officials.
“Around 2 am, we heard a commotion that the walls adjoining the naala was breaking and water was flooding the colony, following which I tried the number of the power supply department and warned them to shut off the power supply,” he said. Moments later, according to eyewitness reports, the surrounding areas were plunged in complete darkness. “It was difficult to figure out which way to go out, since the water and darkness made it difficult to gage our bearings,” added Yadav.
Trapped in a labyrinthine maze of lanes and bylanes, some of which are less than two feet in width, the residents on either side of the canal started to panic in the darkness.
Residents claimed that the chances of the power supply returning to normal within the day is slim. “We would rather stay in darkness than risk dying from shock,” said Saidamma, an elderly woman sitting huddled between water stained piles of clothes, while waiting for her turn to hand the garments to dry.
-Agencies