Festive weekend plans washed away by rains

Stretch that takes 25 minutes to cover on regular days took more than 2 hours, bemoan commuters

- KHYATI SHAH @Hyderabad

JUST as Hyderabadis were getting ready to head home for the long festive weekend, the evening rains played spoilsport on Thursday. With Varalakshmi Vratam and Raksha Bandhan just around the corner, many had planned an early departure, but the downpour brought the city to a standstill. From choked roads and stranded commuters to missed buses and jam-packed Metro stations, the sudden showers turned what should have been a joyful start to the holidays into a frustrating ordeal.

The IT corridor bore the brunt. Traffic crawled along key stretches in Gachibowli, Kondapur, Madhapur and Mehdipatnam, with commuters stuck for hours. "I left my office in Kondapur by 5 pm, hoping to catch a bus to Warangal," an IT employee posted on X. "I was stuck near Gachibowli for over 90 minutes. I missed my bus and had to book another one for late at night."