Copyright thehindu
There was an occasional drizzle, a spell of heavy rain and then nothing in the Moosanagar area on Friday evening at 8 p.m. Dinner of dal, rice and minced meat was being prepared in the home of Mohammed Yawar Ali’s family when he noticed people shouting and trying to get away from their homes with whatever was important. “We left the kitchen with uncooked food and walked towards the road as did other families. By 9 p.m. the water reached the current level. It has not receded even an inch. It reached my bike’s silencer and it still at that level after 12 hours,” said Mr. Ali, who drives a tipper-auto for a living. The inner streets of Moosanagar and Chaderghat that lie just below the bridge and near the Causeway bore the brunt of flood water fury. As electricity supply was switched off by 10 p.m. as a safety measure, residents managed with mobile phone lights and street lights across the road. At GHMC Community Hall, Renuka and her family of five members moved in at 9 p.m.. “We got food in the night at 11 p.m. now we are waiting for the flood waters to recede,” she said, sitting a plastic sheet used to cover the floor. Mohammed Khalid’s family ran from the house carrying plastic chairs, Aadhaar card, money and mobile phone. His daughter picked up the milk bottle and baby food for her months-old baby and waited outside a neighbour’s house on higher ground. “There was no electricity. The rain water entered our homes at 9 p.m. and we are waiting outside of our home without sleep for the water to recede,” said Mohammed Khalid, whose home in the same locality, that fringes the Musi river and is occupied by scrap dealers, rummagers, auto drivers, daily wage labourers and restaurant workers. “This year, there was no announcement like it used to happen earlier. Clothes, rations, refrigerator and beds have been soaked. We are used to floods but announcements would have helped,” said Shaheen who said she was waiting outside her flooded home. The unannounced flood was triggered by heavy rain in the catchment area of Osmansagar and Himayatsagar reservoirs. The 738.15 sq. km catchment area of Osmansagar is spread over Bulkapur, Shankarpally, Chandippa, Mominpet, Dhobipet, Chandanagar and Ananthagiri. The Himayathsagar has a much vaster catchment area of 1308 sq. km that is spread over Venkatapur, Sultanpally, Parigi, Shamshabad and Vikarabad. On Friday, Mominpet recorded 15 cm of rainfall, Shabad 11.8 cm, Moinabad 11.6 cm and Bantwaram 11.2 cm. And by the evening of Friday at 8 p.m., 30,000 cusecs was being released from both the reservoirs as 12 gates of Osmansagar and 9 gates of Himayatsagar were operated. This volume of water combined with the 1,620 cusecs from the Hussainsagar merging at Golnaka caused the havoc. The heavy rain caps a monsoon where 11 mandals in Rangareddy and four mandals in Vikarabad recorded large excess rainfall classified as above 60% of the seasonal average. Shabad mandal recorded 89% excess rainfall over the seasonal average while Nandigam recorded 72% excess rainfall.
