Hyderabad: Eight persons died in separate incidents, four of them in wall collapse, as several parts of Telangana were battered by severe thunderstorms on Sunday. Two others were feared drowned.
In Nagarkurnool district, four construction workers died and two others were injured when the wall of the poultry farm they were constructing in Indragal village of Tadoor mandal fell on them in heavy rain. This occurred on a day when Karimnagar recorded a peak temperature of 47º Celsius.
Four out of ten people working there died on the spot. Locals noticed four others lying with serious injuries and rushed them to the district hospital with the help of the 108 ambulance service. Mallesh, the owner of the chicken shed, and his daughter died in this incident. The two other victims have not been identified. All the injured are being treated at the district hospital.
Near Shamirpet in Medchal district, Nagi Reddy Ram Reddy and his pillion rider lost their lives when a tree, uprooted by strong winds, fell on him. They were riding from Thimmaipalli to Shamirpet when the incident occurred.
In another incident, 12-year-old Laxman from Telkapalli mandal was struck by lightning and died instantly while playing outside his home, and
A fisherman, Kodidela Saidulu from Chandanapally, drowned in Udhaya Samudram at Panagal when his thermocol boat overturned due to strong winds. Two others were reported missing. They hailed from Chandanapally and Panagal. The incident was reported by two other fishermen, Jerripothula Mahesh and Perika Ramesh, who swam to safety and reported the matter to the police who launched a search operation.
The thunderstorms, characterised by heavy rain, strong winds, and lightning, wreaked havoc across multiple districts. The sudden, fast-moving storms, which lasted between 20 and 30 minutes, were particularly severe, causing extensive damage in various regions.
In Rachakonda, the strong winds flattened several huts in the Ravinarayana Reddy Colony of Abdullahpurmet mandal. The huts, reportedly built two years ago, were completely destroyed, leaving many families homeless and appealing for immediate government assistance.
Hyderabad too witnessed a remarkable weather transformation as heavy winds and thunderstorms brought light to moderate rainfall across the city. The day, which began with intense heat, saw the weather oscillate between sunny, cloudy, and back to sunny, creating an unpredictable atmosphere.
In a span of roughly 30 minutes, many parts of Hyderabad experienced fierce winds and significant rainfall. Vanasthalipuram, LB Nagar, Dilsukhnagar, Nagole, Uppal, Ramanthapur, Amberpet, Osmania University, Himayathnagar, Secunderabad, Saroornagar, and were notably affected by the swift-moving but severe thunderstorm, accompanied by heavy showers.
Other areas of Hyderabad, including Kapra, Dammaiguda, Neredmet, Sainikpuri, ECIL, Charlapalli, Malkajgiri, Moula Ali, Tarnaka, and Nacharam, also experienced short but heavy rain with strong winds. The storms spread to south Hyderabad, affecting Manikonda, Kondapur, Rajendranagar, Mehidipatnam, Attapur, Shamshabad, Madinaguda, Lingampally, Nizampet, Kukatpally, Patancheru, Madhapur, and Tellapur.
On Sunday, temperatures across the city soared between 40 and 42°C, with Uppal recording the highest at 42.7°C. The rest of the state also recorded extreme high temperatures. Karimnagar recorded the peak temperature at 47°C, followed by Jagtial at 46.5°C, Peddapalli at 46.4°C, Kumaram Bheem Asifabad at 45.9°C, Mancherial at 45.8°C, Adilabad at 45.7°C, and Nirmal at 45°C.
The forecast for Monday was for partly cloudy skies with similar wind patterns but no significant weather events. The India Meteorological Department-Hyderabad has announced that dry weather is expected to prevail across Telangana for the next five days, with a rise in maximum temperatures by 2 to 3 degrees Celsius anticipated.
Meanwhile, social media was abuzz with videos and tweets about the sudden rains that brought brief relief amid heatwave-like temperatures in the past week.
