Several vehicles were seen almost completely submerged in floodwater as extremely heavy rain lashed Hyderabad on Tuesday. Many cars not only remained submerged but were seen drifting away with the water current, according to visuals emerging from various parts of the city.
In one visual, a black-coloured car, which was parked perpendicular to a T-junction in a heavily flooded street, starts floating along with the water. However, what happened next would make one wonder if the car was actually being driven by a human being or artificial intelligence. The car would have rammed into the gate of a house ahead of it, but the water currents manoeuvred the vehicle in a way that it neatly reversed the car and floated it along the adjoining lane.
How eerie and scary when a car with no driver inside starts moving, even changes direction and speeds away, because of the force of the flood waters; #ChaltheeKaNaamGaadi quips @Iamtssudhir, little you can do to stop it without risking your life #HyderabadRains @ndtv @ndtvindia pic.twitter.com/DhEhTCOuDw
— Uma Sudhir (@umasudhir) October 13, 2020
In another visual, heavy vehicles and cars, too, can be seen floating along with the gushing water.
Unbelievable scenes as cars, even heavy vehicles, are like free floating objects just carried by the force of water; this one recd as a forward, said to be from Green Park Colony #Saroornagar #HyderabadRains @ndtv @ndtvindia #FloatingInHyderabad pic.twitter.com/Go4dBVmGaT
— Uma Sudhir (@umasudhir) October 13, 2020
Vehicles were also almost completely submerged near Mantra Mall in Attapur, which is a residential and commercial area in the city.
#HyderabadRains new tourist attraction at #attapurr near #mantramall #dmart . Hyderabad needs #ola boats and public should learn swimming. @umasudhir @sravandasoju @anusha_puppala @vennelakishore @SKNonline @crhemanth pic.twitter.com/lso5xiR7MY
— srini (@srinidurvasula) October 13, 2020
Car getting washed away in water logging!! #Hyderabad #HyderabadRains #Telangana pic.twitter.com/AS5oLJL2yc
— Aneri Shah (@tweet_aneri) October 13, 2020
Power and traffic disrupted
As quoted in Deccan Chronicle, a TS Southern power distribution corporation said that the electricity was affected after 5.30 pm on Tuesday, when there was a sudden gust of wind accompanied by rains. Several trees were uprooted and fell on power lines.
About 189 disaster management teams, each with 25 members, were attending to the power breakdowns and trying to restore the electricity by repairing the fallen electricity poles.
Major power distributions reported disruptions in the Begumpet, Saifabad, Banjara Hills, Amberpet, Hayathnagar, Secunderabad and several areas in the city. In some areas, even the electricity substations were also inundated.
With the rains, Hyderabad-Vijayawada highway near Abdullapurmet had a bumper-to-bumper traffic for a stretch of two kilometres.
Due to the rains and continuous power cuts, the electricity demand in the city had fallen from 4,300 mega-watts on Monday to 2,800 mega-watts on Tuesday night, as per Deccan Chronicle.
Several railway underpasses in the city, too, experienced flooding, which resulted in the traffic jam in the alternate detours. Severe water-logging and traffic jams were reported in the areas of Panjagutta, Telugu Talli flyover junction, Begumpet and other areas.
Emergency services
Disaster management: 9000113667
Tree cutting: 6309062583
Electricity problems: 9440813750
National Disaster Response Force: 8333068536