‘More than 2 hours to travel 5 km’: Hyderabad man stranded in post-rain traffic jam shares ordeal

The Hyderabad traffic jam is making headlines after heavy rainfall pounded the City of Nizams, turning a 15-minute trip to cover a 5-kilometre stretch into a 2-hour and 20-minute journey. Many motorists complained of traffic snarls as they struggled to reach their destinations on time, with adverse weather conditions compounding their woes.

From crawling traffic to long queues of vehicles, many battered social media users shared the dreadful and harrowing experience of traffic disruption. Giving an insight into the scale of congestion, a user named Prasad Nimmakayala wrote, "It took me 2 hours and 20 minutes to travel 5 km from Jubilee Hills Checkpost to IKEA today. Though this is a very rare feat.. I hope I won’t break this record again.” He attached a video to the post, giving a glimpse of the massive traffic jam.

Traffic moved at a snail's pace after an intense spell of rain on Tuesday. Although the showers lasted for under an hour, they were enough to paralyse large parts of Telangana's capital. The most affected regions by the downpour included flyovers and junctions near IKEA, major tech parks, Gachibowli, Madhapur, Hitec City, Kondapur and the Financial District. With streets and roads submerged, motorists had no choice except to wait in the gridlock.

Thousands were stranded for hours after bumper-to-bumper traffic stretched for kilometres. The city received 15.6 mm of precipitation in about an hour, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The Hyderabad Traffic Police shared a video of an ambulance stuck in a waterlogged road, urging motorists to give way to such emergency vehicles. It reported severe waterlogging at multiple locations, including Virinchi Hospital Road stretch on Road No 12, PVNR Express Highway Point, Nalgonda X Road, Malakpet, Shaikpet Nala, Nayani Narasimha Reddy Steel Bridge, Chhata Bazar, Telugu Thalli Flyover, Masab Tank, Puranapul Graveyard, Cable Bridge, Karbala Maidan, BRK Bhavan and Shaikpet Bridge Ramp, among others.

Several other social media users posted videos of the dire traffic situation.

Another user shared the plight of extremely congested roads and stated, “Rain of 4cms in this season, City is on the knees . Unplanned growth + removal of FSI and concentration of companies at just west of Hyderabad. In this same area recently one acre of Govt land was sold for 240 Crores”

A third user documented the ordeal online and stated, “Hyderabad is already chocking with massive traffic jams and today's rains has created havoc across the city. Gachibowli, Madhapur, Hi-tech City, and the Financial District known as the corridor, are the worst hit.”

Will it rain today?

According to the IMD, residents of Telangana can expect light to moderate rain or thundershowers at a few places today. “Thunderstorm accompanied with Lightning and Gusty Winds (40-50 kmph) very likely to occur at isolated places in ALL DISTRICTS of Telangana,” the weather report stated as the IMD issued a yellow alert.

On the status of monsoon, the IMD said, “Conditions are favourable for further advance of southwest monsoon into some more parts of central Arabian Sea & Maharashtra, remaining parts of Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, westcentral & northwest Bay of Bengal, some more parts of West Bengal & Bihar, some parts of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand & Uttar Pradesh during next 2-3 days.” The weather agency predicted isolated to scattered rainfall in Telangana till 17 June.