Heavy rains kill 30 in southern India
HYDERABAD: At least 30 people have been killed because of sudden torrential rains and flooding in southern India, officials said on Thursday.
In Hyderabad city, home to top IT companies, nine people were killed when a wall collapsed on them and 10 others died from electrocution and drowning, a local official said.
Dramatic images showed cars being washed away by swirling waters, bridges submerged by swollen rivers and trucks stranded on roads inundated by flooding on Wednesday.
Eight members of a family, who were standing in their balcony to watch the rain, were also washed away due to sudden flooding in Hyderabad.
Two of them were found dead and the search is on for the remaining six, the Times of India reported.
Personnel from the army and the National Disaster Response Force have been deployed to evacuate stranded residents.
Weather officials blamed the sudden deluge on a depression in the Bay of Bengal.
Telangana state is the hardest hit area but the flooding has also affected neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
Flash floods kill hundreds of people across India every year, with experts blaming poor construction and warning systems for the fatalities.
Meanwhile, cinemas in moviemad India tentatively re-opened on Thursday but with worries about coronavirus and only old films showing, early punters were few and far between.
The pandemic has clobbered theatres worldwide but in India, home to the planet’s most prolific movie industry, it has upended a culture that treats the stars of the silver screen almost like gods.
After the recent loss of several luminaries to coronavirus, cancer and even suicide — as well as a Bollywood drugs scandal — the industry is desperate for some good news.
But it may have to wait, with some states still keeping theatres closed — including Maharashtra and its movie mad capital Mumbai — and film studios offering no new releases.
At the Sharada Cinema in Bangalore on Thursday, there was only a small trickle of customers for the morning showing of action fantasy “Kaanadante Maayavadanu”.
One of those in line was businessman Chandrashekhar Naidu, who said he was “excited” to return to the cinema after the almost sevenmonth-long coronavirus-imposed hiatus.