High-velocity winds clocking 70km/h and a brief spell of rain triggered uprooting of trees and electricity poles besides roof collapse in the tricity, leaving a few persons injured on Sunday morning. Several areas in Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula witnessed outage for hours, with Mohali appearing to be the worst affected where power hadn’t been restored in a few areas till late night.
In Mohali’s Sector 70, a man out for a morning walk in a park sustained a leg fracture and severe head injuries after a tree collapsed on him. Ashwani Mittal has been hospitalised. He is said to be stable. Fire officer Rajinder Pal said the emergency alert was received at 7.56 am and the operation, including removal of the tree, concluded by 9.15 am.
In Phase 7, a child had a close shave when a peepal tree collapsed near a temple, residents said. In Barmajra village, two persons were injured after their roof collapsed due to a neighbouring wall falling onto their house.
A large tree fell on five parked cars in Sector 70 HCL Society. In Kharar, an electricity pole fell on a boundary wall of SCL Society, damaging a car.
In Chandigarh, around 50 trees were uprooted, many of which came crashing down onto power lines. Fourteen electric poles were broken and over 135 disruptions were recorded in the morning.
Traffic was diverted as trees fell on Sector 38 West road, near Sector 23/24-36/37 chowk and Sector 42 market intersection. In Sector 16, a tree fell on a few cars parked outside the houses of IAS officer Amit Kumar and Rajan Nanda, registrar of Punjab and Haryana high court.
In Sector 63, parts of a solar power plant fell on a car. Vehicles were damaged in Sector 43 and Maloya as well.
In Panchkula, a large tree fell in a residential area of Sector 9, while another collapsed inside Yavnika Park in Sector 5. Several sheds were damaged due to the gusty winds.
Several areas await power restoration
Thousands in Mohali were without power as heavy damage to infrastructure delayed restoration work, officials said. Three high-tension poles collapsed near the 66 kV grid in Sector 71, disrupting multiple feeders.
Residents across Phase 2 to 10 were without power for hours. The situation was no different in Sector 70, Jandpur, neighbouring Kharar and Zirakpur besides other nearby areas. Though power was restored by 9 pm in some areas, places like Phase 2, Sector 121 and Barmajra were without power supply till filing of this report.
Residents said power cuts affected their routine lives as it affected water supply as well in some areas. “Outages rendered our appliances defunct,” said a group of residents in Barmajra.
In Chandigarh, power was restored by 1 pm, officials said. Panchkula too saw outages but the normalcy returned by 12 pm officials said. Power cuts affected residents in Sectors 4, 11, 18 and 21 for hours.
Flight operations disrupted
The flight operations at the Chandigarh International Airport were delayed. Air India’s Hyderabad flight (AI 1862) took off at 9.02 am, instead of 7.50 am, while IndiGo’s Bengaluru flight (6E 6634) departed at 9.18 am, instead of 8.10 am. The Mumbai flight (AI 472) also took off late at 9.09 am, instead of 8.20 am. Officials said arrivals remained largely unaffected.
Lowest May mercurity in 42 years
The minimum temperature of Chandigarh dropped to 17.1°C, the lowest in May since 1974, India Meteorological Department (IMD) stated. The city saw 19.7 mm rain till 8.30 am and 4.8 mm was recorded later during the day. The sky turned dark again around 7:30 am as a thunderstorm approached the city. The IMD had issued a red alert, the highest of the four-colour warning system.
While the department doesn’t maintain any record for wind speed, the gusting wind speed of 70km/h is considered unusually high for thunderstorms. The minimum temperature fell from 21.9°C on Saturday to 17.1°C, 6.2°C below normal. On May 19, 1974, the city had seen 14.7°C as the minimum temperature. The IMD has been maintaining data for minimum temperature since 1954. The maximum temperature also fell from 36.2°C on Saturday to 33.2°C on Sunday, 4.3°C below normal.
IMD’s Chandigarh director Surender Paul said the fall in temperature followed the strong western disturbance (WD) which is active over the region. He said the timing of the storm in the morning also caused the temperature to fall.
The IMD has issued an orange advisory for thunderstorms and rain in the city for Monday and Tuesday. Orange alert asks people to remain prepared.
In the next three days, maximum temperature will remain between 33°C and 34°C while minimum temperature will remain between 19°C and 20°C.
