Rain record from 129 years broken in Hyderabad floods half a million affected

Hyderabad: The worst rains and flood in more than a century left Hyderabad city completely battered and paralyzed with hundreds of thousands of affected people struggling to recover from the devastation on Thursday. The unprecedented scale of disaster has forced the administration to seek the help from army for rescue and relief operations. More than 400k to 500k people affected massive damage to property and public infrastructure amounting in Billions of dollars reported
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With some areas recording as much as 32 cms of rains, experts say it had broken the record of 129 years. Such rain fury in month of October was seen last in 1891 in Hydrabad, according to the record of Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). However in month of September the worst rain was in 1908 when the great deluge in river Musi killed 15000 people and destroyed a major part of the city. The same river was in spate once again as authorities opened 14 gates of Himayat Sagar reservoir across the river and released water.
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2020 has turned out to be the wettest year for Telangana as the entire state has recorded 404% more than normal annual rainfall. Hyderabad itself has received 404% excess rainfall.

Civic authorities and experts have blamed the large scale devastation on illegal encroachments of lakes and water bodies in and around the city, indiscriminate development of residential colonies and choking of the natural water drains.

According to the officials of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation a whopping 20,540 houses were damaged. Administration has set up 61 relief camps and 150,000 food packets were distributed among the affected families. But the civil society was more visible in the rescue and relief work right from the first sign of the calamity.

Over 37,000 people have been rescued from flood-affected areas of Hyderabad, while more than 50 people have died due to the inundation caused by incessant rain over the past week.

KT Rama Rao, Minister of Urban Development and Municipal Administration said that rescue efforts were underway.

"The cloud burst is leading to heavy rainfall and floods. We have been trying to save people from affected areas. We are alerting the people in low-lying areas of Hyderabad and surrounding areas so that loss of life can be reduced. People from low lying areas have been alerted about the situation and are being temporarily shifted to rescue and relief centers. Currently, 37,000 people have been rescued and sent to relief centres," Rao said.

He further said that it was likely that this would be the second-highest level of rainfall since 1916.

"On average, Hyderabad receives rainfall of 77.9 centimeters, but this year, the city has already received 80 per cent more rainfall than usual that is around 120 centimeters of rainfall. 2020 might end up being the highest recorded rainfall in a year in history after the single highest rainfall of the year was recorded in 1916 with 142 centimetres of rains," said the Minister.

"Apart from these, special drives on sanitation and hygiene are also being conducted all over the city to prevent COVID-19 infection. Old buildings that are likely to fall are also going to be demolished to prevent any further mishaps," he said.
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