At least seven people have been reported killed and another 58 injured in flood-related incidents in Andhra Pradesh in India, due to heavy rains and hailstorms, along with damage to some 374 houses.
Heavy rains accompanied by hail fell in Hyderabad easrlier in the week, flooding of roads and causing traffic chaos as traffic lights stopped working and vehicles were left stranded in traffic jams and flooded streets.
Heavy hailstorm in hyderabad.. pic.twitter.com/yDO0w8tSfz
— Najiya. surumi (@NSurumi) March 4, 2014
Traffic was brought to a stand-still on Sunday in Ramanthapur, Uppal, Secunderabad, Tarnaka, Begumpet, Punjagutta, Khairatabad, Jubilee Hills, Lakadi-ka-pul, Masab Tank, Mehdipatnam, Bowenpally, RP Road, Mettuguda, Banjara Hills, and Hayathnagar. At Jubilee Hills, a power outage caused by flooding left the traffic lights out of order for more than four hours, while metro rail workers in areas Saifabad and Malakpet had to stop work because of heavy showers.
Hundreds of hectares of standing jowar, paddy and other crops, as well as plantain, mango and other fruit plantations, suffered severe losses in several districts of Telangana, including Warangal, Nalgonda and Khammam, owing to the untimely rains.
A 50-year old man died in hospital in Bidar, Karnataka, from injuries sustained during a hailstorm on Monday, while in Marredpally, a dilapidated building collapsed but no one was hurt.
The unseasonal weather was caused by moisture incursion from the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea that led to the development of cumulonimbus clouds resulting in thunderstorms. Such climatic conditions are said to be unusual for this time or year as hailstorms generally occur at the peak of summer.
The meteorological office forecast heavy rainfall and thundershowers, with or without hail in Telangana in the 48 hour period covering Thursday and Friday 6 and 7 March 2014, with isolated thundershowers over coastal Andhra Pradesh during the same period.
The met office reports that a western tropical disturbance and its associated cyclonic circulation have also caused untimely rains in parts of north and east India.
Sources: New Indian Express; Times of India
