Musi river in spate leaves behind a trail of destruction

Musi river, in spate due to heavy rain in its catchment areas, left several localities in Hyderabad flooded, including Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS), the main State and inter-State bus terminal managed by the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TGRTC), on Friday.

Water entered about 200-300 houses in and around Chaderghat, including several tin-roofed structures and single-storeyed dwellings which were completely submerged. As the water level rose rapidly, families scurried to the upper floors, with a few spending the night on the rooftop in cold weather.

Several residents claimed that they had not been alerted about the release of water into the river from Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar, which are flood control reservoirs built on the river in 1920 and 1927 respectively following the devastating 1908 floods.

“I have never seen the river rise so fast during my 50 years. Never before had so many gates of the reservoirs lifted been opened at once,” said M. Venkatesh, a resident of Ramnagar. 

First time in 60 years 

A highest of 35,000 cusecs of water was released into the river from the twin reservoirs on Friday. It was the first time in 60 years 15 gates of the Osman Sagar were lifted by nine feet, officials from the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board informed. 

With bus bays submerged in knee deep water at MGBS towards midnight, forces from the Hyderabad Disaster Response & Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) swung into action and evacuated about 2,000 passengers using ropes, as per information given by HYDRAA chief A.V. Ranganath. All bus services were shifted to other locations in the city, and passengers were alerted accordingly.

The service road to the Outer Ring Road (ORR) was inundated by water rushing from the Himayat Sagar, disrupting traffic on the ORR as well as the service road. Causeways at Chaderghat and Moosarambagh, besides the Puranapul bridge, were shut down due to inundation, causing severe traffic jams on the alternative routes. The retaining walls on the Chaderghat causeway were washed away, while the bridge on the river connecting Pratapsingaram and Gowrelli villages in the suburbs was also submerged.

Starting around 2 p.m. on Friday., the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) shifted over 1,000 residents from flood-prone areas to safer locations and provided relief to stranded families near Chaderghat and MGBS. On Saturday, drones were used to supply food to the stranded families. The National Disaster Response Force was deployed to bring the residents to safety using rescue boats.

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy conducted a review of the flood situation and issued instructions to the authorities to safely evacuate the stranded people and take relief measures. He asked the police, HYDRAA and GHMC authorities to be on alert.

Minister in-charge of the city Ponnam Prabhakar, Mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi, GHMC Commissioner R.V. Karnan and Hyderabad Collector D. Hari Chandana visited the flood-affected areas and monitored the rescue and relief operations.