Hyderabad drenched
Strong winds uproot 165 trees, break branches
Motorists caught in a heavy downpour and strong winds at Tank Bund as rain lashed Hyderabad on Saturday. Several trees were uprooted across the city.
The sudden downpour accompanied by gusty winds in the city on Saturday afternoon caused widespread disruption in power supply, with most such instances resulting from trees or tree branches breaking off and falling on power lines and, in some locations, trees uprooted by the wind falling on electricity poles.
According to the GHMC, falling of trees or tree branches were reported from at least 165 locations and more complaints were coming in late in the evening. The city appears to have escaped from major flooding but incidents of waterlogging were reported from six locations.
“There were power outages in more than 100 places across the city. Most of the disruptions were centered around areas like Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills, Sanathnagar, Greenlands and Saifabad. We are still on the job, and we will restore power soon,” said J. Srinivas Reddy, director, operations, of the Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Company Limited.
While all complaints of power outages are being attended to, in some locations it was taking longer because of restricted availability of personnel on account of Covid-19 situation. But there are no major damages and power will be restored in all areas as quickly as possible, he said.
Meanwhile, GHMC officials said its emergency teams had by 9 pm cleared fallen trees and branches from 48 locations.
Viswajit Kampati, director, Enforcement, Vigilance and Disaster Management, of the GHMC, said, “We have had 165 reports and expect the number of increase. All our disaster management teams are out clearing
the fallen branches and trees,” he said. Waterlogging was cleared in an hour or two, he said.
The TSSPDCL appealed to people to be careful when stepping out on the streets and watch out of possible downed
power lines and report any suspicious appearance by calling the police on 100 or the emergency helpline on 1912.