Monsoon swamps Hyderabad, leaves city reeling

Heavy rain inundates roads, neighbourhoods as widespread power outages hamper drainage operations

HYDERABAD:

Torrential monsoon rain battered Hyderabad on Sunday, inundating roads and residential areas, disrupting traffic and electricity supply, and exposing the city's vulnerability to urban flooding despite official claims of preparedness.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) recorded 147mm of rainfall in Tandojam over the past 24 hours. In Hyderabad's City, Latifabad and Qasimabad talukas, rainfall reached 58mm by 5:30pm.

The downpour left several residential and commercial areas partially submerged, with rainwater remaining on major roads well into the evening.

The Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (HMC) acknowledged that water had accumulated in several parts of the city, attributing the slow drainage to prolonged electricity outages by the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO). According to the mayor's spokesperson, Ghulam Mustafa Buriro, all drainage pumping stations operated by the Hyderabad Water and Sewerage Corporation (HW&SC) had been kept functional, but repeated power failures severely affected pumping operations.

However, officials did not explain why backup generators were not used to keep the pumping stations operational during the rainfall.

Tandojam emerged as one of the worst-hit areas, where floodwater entered homes and businesses, leaving many roads impassable and disrupting normal life.

Rescue 1122 teams assisted stranded motorists across the city, using tow trucks to recover vehicles trapped in flooded underpasses. At the Hussainabad railway underpass, several vehicles, including a passenger bus, had to be pulled from the accumulated water.

The railway underpass in Latifabad Unit-7 was submerged under four to five feet of water, making it inaccessible to traffic. Similar scenes were witnessed outside Hyderabad Railway Station and on several major roads across the city.

The flooding came despite the HW&SC announcing on July 31 that all drainage pumping stations had been made fully operational ahead of the anticipated monsoon rains on the instructions of Mayor Kashif Shoro. The corporation, however, did not clarify whether adequate backup power arrangements had been made in anticipation of electricity outages.

Deputy Commissioner Zain-ul-Abedin Memon was informed by HESCO officials that 158 of Hyderabad's 166 eleven-kilovolt feeders were shut down after heavy rain began on Sunday morning. Forty-seven feeders were restored during the afternoon.

According to HESCO spokesperson Sadiq Kubar, the situation improved gradually, with the number of feeders without electricity reduced to 66 by 4pm, although power outages continued to affect large parts of the city.