HYDERABAD: Unseasonal hail and thunder showers brought normal life to a halt across Hyderabad as climate change expert said the 'unusual weather' this time of the year is likely to prevail for the next three days.

Trees got uprooted causing widespread traffic jams in many parts of the city, while power and telephone lines snapped in several places as blinding rain accompanied by strong winds forced people to scurry indoors. The heavily overcast sky opened up in the afternoon and sudden showers lashed Banjara Hills, Begumpet, HiTec City, Malkajgiri, Ameerpet and Nampally, among other areas of the city. "It is unusual weather. During the last few years, we never had a storm with hail in the first week of March," said R V Subba Rao, a climate change expert.

Some thunderstorm activity was however recorded in the past in the second and third week of the month, experts said. Officials from the Met department attributed the sudden weather change to moisture incursion from Arabian Sea and instability in the atmosphere, resulting in clouding and thunderstorm activity.

"Generally, we experience this kind of weather in the second half of March. However, for the last four days, entire Telangana is experiencing thunderstorms. The effect is more in Telangana, particularly north Telangana, compared to coastal AP and Rayalaseema," said M Narasimha Rao, assistant meteorologist, Met department.

Experts are hoping for a normal summer, or else they feel the annual monsoon, which is the lifeline for lakhs of farmers, could get adversely affected. "Summer should be normal, then only we can expect good monsoon," added Rao. Met office at Begumpet recorded a 35 mm rainfall as the maximum temperature nosedived to 26.3 degree Celsius, 8 degrees below normal. Officials said Kapra recorded 39.0 mm rainfall, the highest in the city.

Two big trees got uprooted near Bible House and Rajendranagar, causing massive traffic jams and GHMC said its helpline was flooded with complaints of severe water logging in several areas. Trees got uprooted, causing traffic snarls in five other places, including Kundanbagh.

"I got stuck for more than 45 minutes near VIP colony, wondering what had gone wrong. I later realized that a large tree got uprooted there," said Avinash Kumar, a techie, who was returning home from work.

Municipal authorities said water logging was reported at more than 70 places in the city, including Masab Tank, Abids, CM camp office, near Raj Bhavan, Amberpet and Nims hospital among others. The only good news came as the electricity demand came down to 253 million units a day from 300 million units, due to rains and subsequent temperature drop. Power consumption also saw a slump in Adilabad, Nizamabad and Warangal districts. On Tuesday, the maximum power demand touched 261 million units. With heavy rains even in Krishna basin, inflows into reservoirs also improved leading to increased hydro power generation. As a result, the hydro power generation also stepped up from 750 MW to 960 MW.

Heavy gale and hailstorm across Telangana caused snapping of power lines and led to interruption in power supply in several districts. Dr Thilotham R Kolanu, former professor of environment management at Administrative Staff College of India said they have received reports of crop damage due to the rains during the last four days.

"While mango crop was damaged to a small extent, tomato that is selling at cheapest rates till other day might see a substantial rise in prices because of the damage," said Kolanu, chief executive of renewable energy consulting firm Greenstratos Consulting. The heavy rains accompanied by hail and strong winds caused severe damage to standing crops in many places in Warangal and Khammam districts. Sheds and thatched houses collapsed in several villages in Warangal. Madduru in Warangal received 370 mm of rainfall, the highest ever rainfall recorded during the month of March in the district.

TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao told media that the extent of damage to crops is yet to be ascertained.

"The damage is heavy. We will submit a memorandum to the governor seeking early enumeration and payment of compensation to the affected farmers," he said. Maize and chilli fields were submerged in Panthani, Station Ghanpur and Chagallu mandals of Warangal.

Source - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/