Residents returned to homes filled with broken furniture, ruined clothes, and rotting groceries. Many had spent nights on higher ground, clinging to safety as water rose above their waists, forcing hurried evacuations.
Published Sep 21, 2025 | 8:00 AM ⚊ Updated Sep 21, 2025 | 8:00 AM
Some lost years of savings, others their meagre assets, and a few even their livestock.
Synopsis: Intense rains in Hyderabad in recent days have hit residents of Warasiguda particularly hard, with homes and streets submerged. As floodwaters receded, families returned to damaged property, ruined belongings, and losses of savings and livestock, while local shops remained shuttered and streets coated in sludge. Appeals for government aid continue, as residents struggle to recover even as forecasts predict continued heavy rainfall.
On 17 and 18 September, heavy rains turned Warasiguda in Telangana’s Hyderabad into a pocket of despair. The intense downpour quickly created a flood-like situation, submerging homes.
Flooding in Warasiguda (supplied)
By the time the waters receded, lanes were coated in thick sludge, the air heavy with dampness, and households were struggling to salvage what little remained.
Residents returned to homes filled with broken furniture, ruined clothes, and rotting groceries. Many had spent nights on higher ground, clinging to safety as water rose above their waists, forcing hurried evacuations.
Some lost years of savings, others their meagre assets, and a few even their livestock. The bright sunshine the next morning revealed the full extent of the rain’s toll: shops were shuttered, streets strewn with filth, and residents left appealing for help as they struggled to clean, repair, and recover.
“For the last two days, there was a lot of water in our house. I barely got away with my life,” 65-year-old Shayidaji Banu recalled to South First. “We lost the entire ration, rice, oil and everything. I even lost the ₹15,000 I had saved up in cash during the flooding. I have BP and sugar, and couldn’t buy the medicines that got washed away yet,” she continued.
On 17 September, she had to be evacuated from a house that was rapidly flooding.
“My son and some other people held on to me and took me outside. The water had come above my waist. They dropped me off at some higher ground, then I went into the house of someone I knew and slept there. However, I couldn’t stay there for long. I’ve had to sleep here in my damp home for the last two days without much support,” she said.
“We have received nothing from the state till now. While we receive water into our homes almost every year, it has never been this severe. No matter how little it rains, the water is coming inside.”
Shayidaji Banu moved to this house about seven years ago, after her husband died. She supports herself on a ₹2,000 pension and some money from her younger son, who works as an auto driver.
Most of her house was damaged in the rains, from mattresses to clothes to groceries. Yet she revealed that they do not intend to move elsewhere. “This locality is where everyone we know is. I can’t leave it,” she said.
Just a few steps away from Shayidaji Banu lived Sayed Mehdi, her elder son. Living with his wife and two children in the same locality, he had to prioritise their safety when his house started flooding.
Shayidaji Banu
“We carried our children out to a little higher ground first. However, the water started entering there as well. We immediately waded through the water to get to my relative’s house to stay for the last two days,” he told South First.
“We just came back this morning after it looked like most of the water had subsided. However, almost everything we own is either damp or destroyed. We have no place to sleep and no clothes to wear. Even the few things we bought, like a fridge, have stopped working now. I work as a labourer locally. I don’t know when I’ll be able to recover from this.”
Sayed and his family had initially sought refuge with Syed Azam, their neighbour, who lived in a relatively higher building.
“The rain was roaring, and the water levels looked dangerous that night. We took in everyone we could, but soon, even our house started flooding,” he recounted. Pointing to the marks left behind, he described how the water entered the living room first and then slowly spread.
“We lost this month’s rice and flour. Our clothes are gone, and the TV isn’t working either. To top it off, the wall and ceilings are leaking. In these conditions, we don’t know how long we can stay here. But we can’t move either,” he said.
Azam also raised about seven goats alongside multiple chickens. “Two of our goats died because of the rain; they got swept away. Even humans were unable to stand in that water; how could those poor goats survive?” he asked.
In the cases of Azam, Mehdi, and Shayidaji, homes were badly affected and most personal property was damaged. In another house in Warasiguda, Srinivas Cheppada Rudra lost his livelihood.
The damaged matress and fridge at Mehdi’s house
“I run a small ladoo business to make some money from this house. It’s just me, my wife Venkara Lakshmi, and an employee. We don’t make much but still get by on the money we make in the on-season during the off-season,” he told South First.
“That day, the water came up to my chest. Usually, when it rains, it’s only up to my knees. However, that day the water started entering rapidly. We lost the peanuts, sesame seeds, jaggery, and sugar, everything we need to make a living, to the rain.”
Even as his house started flooding, Srinivas stayed back to place all the important things in higher locations.
“Even that did not help. How much higher can I place something in my home?” he asked.
“If the state helps me in these conditions, I can make a living again. I appeal to the government to assist us with whatever it can. I lost close to ₹30,000 in this incident.”
It’s not just Srinivas who is appealing for assistance. Shayidaji also made the same appeal, as did her son Mehdi. Another local, Rehanna Begum, who worked at Srinivas’ business, voiced similar concerns.
“I had to take refuge at the flat above ours during those two days. When I left, the water had just started entering my home. When I came back, everything was damp and didn’t work. Especially the cooler and my fridge,” she told South First.
Srinivas Cheppada Rudra’s kitchen
“The drainage is the government’s responsibility. While they cannot control the rains and water, I hope they can still help poor people like us in Warasiguda recover the losses because of this. It might sound like just rain to some. But for us, it was a flood, almost like a natural disaster.”
Her neighbour, Nityasri Ellaboina, was less optimistic.
“I do not think that we will get much help from the government. We have a child whose safety we had to prioritise in that water. We didn’t bother to carry much; we just wanted to be safe,” she said.
She described how the water destroyed many of their original documents, which the family had stored on a bottom shelf.
“Forget monetary support, the GHMC has not even cleaned up our streets of the waste yet,” she lamented, adding that lower-income areas like Warasiguda were not treated with the same importance as some other parts of the city.
Despite facing a flood-like situation, Warasiguda has not seen the last of its woes. With more predictions of thunderstorms and heavy rains across the city, residents seem to have lost hope of any improvement in their conditions.
