Several areas in Hyderabad, including Somajiguda, Abids and Serilingampally, continued to suffer power outages for the third consecutive day on Thursday, after the heavy rainfall on Tuesday uprooted many electric poles and affected the substations. Residents of Somajiguda complained that the electricity supply has been affected for more than 40 hours. According to Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (TSSPDCL), the heavy rain damaged 15 substations, 686 feeders and 312 poles within Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).
On Wednesday, TSSPDCL repaired most of the feeders and substations. Among the 312 poles, 63 of them replaced, officials said.
Speaking to TNM, an official from TSSPDCL said, “All the feeders and substations in the city have been repaired. We have been receiving complaints of individual issues due to issues with the transformers. The transformers are being fixed. All the poles were fixed by Wednesday night and power has been restored.”
The official also said that many apartments are yet to pump out water from their cellars, and power cannot be supplied unless the water is drained out.
According to the official, they had received nearly 50,000 complaints as on Thursday regarding power disruption. Normally, the power supply company receives 4,000-5,000 complaints each day.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday held a meeting with Transmission Corporation of Telangana Limited, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Prabhakar Rao and directed the electricity employees to not relent until they restore the power supply. The CMD told the Chief Minister that heavy rains had damaged the poles and wires, and in some areas, the employees could not access the flooded areas. He also said that as a precautionary measure, the department stopped power supply in a few areas in the city. He assured that they will restore the power supply within 24 hours.
The unprecedented rains in Telangana on Monday and Tuesday, which resulted due to the deep depression over the Bay of Bengal, claimed at least 30 lives. In Hyderabad alone, nearly 20 persons were killed in rain-related incidents.
Emergency numbers
Dsaster management: 9000113667
Tree cutting: 6309062583
Electricity problems: 9440813750
National Disaster Response Force: 8333068536
Watch: Roads waterlogged, homes flooded as Hyderabad saw record rainfall