The family of J. Dinesh Kumar, locally known as Sunny, spent Monday combing through the flood-hit stretches of Moosarambagh and Padma Colony bridge, hoping for his whereabouts. The 24-year-old man working in pest control, who also took up online delivery jobs to support his family, has been missing since Sunday night's deluge when floodwaters swept him into a nala at Parsigutta's Vinoda Nagar.

Dinesh had stepped out around 8.20 p.m. to move his motorcycle as rainwater began filling the low-lying lane. A wall beside him suddenly collapsed, releasing a surge of sewer water that dragged him into the raging stream. His bike was found hours later, but he was gone. His elder brother Rakesh Kumar, who joined the police and NDRF teams in the search, said the family had been moving from one flooded stretch to another since dawn. "He has a three-year-old son. His wife stays at home, but she has been unwell for the past three months. Nobody expected the wall to collapse like that. For half an hour, we didn't even know he had fallen. Only the bike was left behind and was found around 11 p.m.," he said.

Relatives and family members search in a nala for Dinesh who got washed away in Sunday's heavy rains in Ram Nagar of Hyderabad. | Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL

The young father's disappearance has left his family clinging on to hope as teams from the NDRF, Musheerabad Police and GHMC continue combing the nala from Nallakunta to Moosarambagh, about nine kilometres away from his residence in Parsigutta.

In another part of the city, tragedy struck Habeeb Nagar where Rama, 25, and Arjun, 26, slipped into a flooded nala beside their house at Mangaru Basti. The road slopes downwards into the stream, and with floodwater rushing in, the two men lost their footing. "They were washed away in the strong currents," an officer said, adding that as of Monday evening, search operations had been extended up to Gowlipura.

By Monday evening, rescue teams were still searching, while their families kept vigil on the nala banks, waiting for updates.

Hyderabad deluge: families join rescue teams as hunt continues for three men washed away in floodwaters