A 13.25 cm rain in just two hours of duration because of a massive cumulonimbus cloudburst in and around Hyderabad on Monday evening resulted in the death of seven people here and in neighbouring districts.
While a child and his father died in a wall collapse, another man was electrocuted to death here four people reportedly lost their life due to lightning in Narayankhed of combined Medak district.
As the mayhem began without any caution, thousands of commuters, particularly in the financial district and IT sectors were stranded for hours as inundated roads posed threat to their movement. The rain was so heavy that the Panjagutta flyover that links Secunderabad with the Banjara hills got inundated and it looked like swimming pool.
Several vehicles which were parked on the sides of the roads were seen floating. With trees getting uprooted in the gale winds, traffic at least 50% of the city was blacked out.
The Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao immediately directed the Chief Secretary to take up relief measures.
The Telangana government declared a holiday for all educational institutions on Tuesday as the Metrology department has warned of heavy rains for 48 hours more.
According to YK Reddy, IMD Hyderabad director the clouds that caused the deluge has a radius of 6 to 8 km enough to cover most of the city.