Video: Hyderabad rider stuck in Musi floodwaters rescued by traffic police

As many bridges in Hyderabad were closed due to overflowing floodwater following heavy rains in the city on Tuesday, July 26, a man stuck on his bike on an inundated bridge was rescued by Cyberabad traffic police. Dramatic visuals of the rescue captured on video show the man stuck in the middle of the Himayat Sagar service road bridge, seated on his bike and holding on to the guard rail on the side of the bridge in knee-deep water flowing rapidly across the bridge. The traffic police personnel who arrived in a recovery van to rescue him can be heard questioning why he had tried to travel across the bridge, and assuring him his bike would be safe as he left it by the guardrail to get onto the van. 

According to the Cyberabad police, traffic on the service road from Telangana State Police Academy (TSPA) to Rajendra Nagar was disrupted due to high water levels, as four gates of the Himayat Sagar reservoir were lifted by two feet due to heavy rains on July 26. As a result, the man got stuck on the bridge around 4.45 pm on Tuesday. Police said he entered the inundated bridge while going from Khaleej Khan Dargah towards Shamshabad, despite barricades being set up. As he was swept away by the flood, he was rescued with the help of a rope by the recovery van team led by Head Constable Baig. The team was seen tying a chain to the bike and helping the man hop on to the van. 

In another incident on Tuesday night, a team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) rescued five members of a family stuck in the flood waters of the Musi river at Gandipet. The family, including three women and a child, were stuck in a farmhouse in the river bed on the city outskirts. After a five-hour-long operation, the NDRF team with the help of police rescued the family from the flood waters at Gandipet, as the Osman Sagar reservoir across Musi is popularly known.

Part 2 pic.twitter.com/jVfnE3fUlo

— Paul Oommen (@Paul_Oommen) July 26, 2022

The family, working at a farmhouse, had alerted the police after being caught in the flood waters. Police, along with officials of the revenue department, Hyderabad Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) rushed there. With the rising flood level, authorities sought the help of the NDRF. Yogi Kumar Verma, who was leading the NDRF team, told reporters that five persons were rescued with the help of an inflatable river boat. "We have evacuated all the five, including a child. They are all safe," he said.

Following heavy rain in upstream Vikarabad and Chevella areas, the Musi river has been receiving huge inflows. Authorities have opened the gates of twin reservoirs Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar to let out the water downstream. With the Musi river in spate, two bridges across the river were closed for traffic on Wednesday as the flood water was overflowing onto them. Traffic police closed the Moosarambagh causeway and Chaderghat old bridge, and erected barricades on both sides of the bridges, leading to huge traffic jams in Chaderghat, Malakpet, Moosarambagh and adjoining areas. The traffic between Amberpet and Malakpet came to a halt while the movement of vehicles between Chaderghat and Malakpet was badly affected.

The usually busy bridges were completely flooded with rivers flowing over them. Residential areas close to river banks were also inundated. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) shifted the affected people to relief camps. The river, which passes through the city, has been in spate since Tuesday due to massive inflows following heavy rains in upstream and catchment areas.

The inflows at Osman Sagar (Gandipet) increased to 8,000 cusecs. HMWS&SB has opened 13 gates up to six feet to release 8,281 cusecs of water in the Musi river. The water level in Gandipet was 1,789.10 feet on Wednesday morning against the Full Tank Level (FTL) of 1,790 feet. Himayat Sagar was also receiving 10,000 cusecs inflow. The officials opened eight gates to release 10,700 cusecs of water into the river. The water level in this reservoir stood at 1762.70 feet against an FTL of 1763.50 feet.

With the Moosarambagh bridge being closed since Tuesday evening, the Hyderabad traffic police said that no traffic is being allowed between Amberpet/Kachiguda and Moosarambagh/Malakpet. Because of this, there was heavy traffic congestion in the Dilsukhnagar-Malakpet-Chaderghat-Koti stretch even on Wednesday afternoon, police said, asking commuters to avoid this stretch till Thursday morning and take alternative routes instead. The Moosarambagh bridge will be opened to the public as the flood recedes in the Musi river, which is likely to happen only on Thursday, police said.

#Flood water flowing over the #Moosarambagh bridge, as #MusiRiver is #overflowing after 12 floodgates of Osmansagar and 8 flood gates of Himayatsagar have been lifted due to heavy inflows.#HyderabadRains #Telanganarains #Telanganafloods #HeavyRains #HyderabadFloods #Hyderabad pic.twitter.com/MjT35xsASU

— Surya Reddy (@jsuryareddy) July 27, 2022

With IANS inputs