A brief but intense spell of summer rain and thunderstorms swept across Hyderabad and several Telangana districts on Thursday, killing a 20-year-old BTech student and disrupting road and air traffic.
Hyderabad:A brief but intense spell of summer rain and thunderstorms swept across Hyderabad and several Telangana districts on Thursday, killing a 20-year-old BTech student and disrupting road and air traffic. Sampath Kumar, of Gangaram village in Kondapur mandal, died on the spot after lightning struck the tree under which he and two friends had taken shelter in Sadasivapet; the others escaped unhurt.
The storm brought welcome relief from daytime heat, dropping light-to-moderate rain in the capital — Malkajgiri 9.5 mm, Serilingampally 7.5 mm, Himayatnagar 3.8 mm and Ramachandrapuram 3.5 mm — while Miyapur and Gachibowli saw heavier downpours. Showers were also logged in Sangareddy, Nalgonda, Rangareddy, Yadadri Bhuvanagiri, Vikarabad, Nizamabad and Asifabad.
Water-logging slowed evening traffic in low-lying city pockets such as SR Nagar, Punjagutta, Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills. At Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, poor visibility forced the diversion of three flights: IndiGo 6E 6417 from Darbhanga to Vijayawada, Air India AI 2531 from Mumbai to Nagpur and AI 2619 from Mumbai to Bengaluru.
The Hyderabad Meteorological Centre attributed the weather to cumulonimbus cloud formation and warned of further thunderstorms, lightning, hail and gusty winds over the next 48 hours. Districts including Kamareddy, Sangareddy, Medak, Jayashankar Bhupalapally, Mulugu, Bhadradri Kothagudem, Khammam, Suryapet and Nalgonda may see light-to-moderate rain on April 11, while Hyderabad could experience additional showers and gusts on April 12 before conditions turn partly cloudy from April 13.
