Many dead as record rains lash India’s Hyderabad and nearby areas

At least 16 people have been killed in incidents of wall and house collapses amid record rains in southern India, officials and media reports said.

Nine people died in the city of Hyderabad after a perimeter wall collapsed and fell on a set of houses during heavy rains Tuesday night, regional legislator Asaduddin Owaisi said on Twitter. Indian media reports said the dead included a two-month-old infant.

Five other people, including an old couple and their grandson, were killed when two other house collapsed during the downpour in the city, police said. Two other persons were swept away by floodwaters, the Associated Press reported.

Daily life has been thrown out of gear across parts of Hyderabad as roads are flooded and vehicles washed away in several neighbourhoods.

Telangana, where Hyderabad is located, and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh states have witnessed heavy rains for the last three days caused by a deep depression in the Bay of Bengal.

A total of 18 people have died in the region since Monday, Indian media reports said.

Hyderabad received 25cm (10 inches) of rain in the past 24 hours, the highest in over 20 years, the Indian Metereological Department officials said, according to the Times of India newspaper.

Heavy rains and thunderstorms are expected in the the region through Thursday. Authorities in Hyderabad declared a holiday on Wednesday and Thursday and asked residents to stay indoors.

Telangana: Streets are waterlogged in the Tolichowki area of Hyderabad following heavy rainfall. pic.twitter.com/YaUb5bdChi

— ANI (@ANI) October 14, 2020

India’s monsoon season between June and early October has already seen widespread death and destruction.

The rains have damaged rice paddies and other crops such as corn, cotton, and pulses, traders said, but they said it was too early to assess the full extent of crop losses.

More than 1,030 people have died in rain-related incidents between June and mid-September, according to India’s home ministry.

More than 9.6 million people across South Asia have been affected by severe floods this year, with hundreds of thousands struggling to get food and medicine.