Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Heavy rain throws life out of gear,high winds uproot trees,damage vehicles
It was a wet Thursday,as thunderstorm and high speed winds created havoc throwing life out of gear,uprooting trees and damaging vehicles and houses and snapping electric lines.
Water logged roads made commuting difficult,with vehicles across the city getting stranded and were towed away,while some were submerged in water.
It seemed like buckets of water were falling down. It made visibility almost zero while driving. It took me two hours to reach my office. It was a nightmare to drive today, Ashita,a resident of Sector 18,said.
As per the Met Department,the central and southern parts of the city experienced more rain and wind than the other parts. Winds with velocity as high as 50-60 km per hour were recorded at some places,while it rained 29.7 mm.
The strong winds uprooted trees and damaged walls of houses with Sectors 22,21,18 and 19 being the worst affected.
K K Sahni,a resident of Sector 21,said that a 42-year-old Peepal near his house fell smashing two cars. The wall of his house as well as the gate were also damaged.
The Fire and Emergency Services Wing of the Municipal Corporation and the police were flooded with calls. The Fire Wing had to pump out water in Sector 19 and 26. Some of the uprooted trees had blocked the roads and had to be removed to maintain smooth traffic flow.
DSP-Traffic Vijay Kumar said the traffic police cleared 22 trees from various roads in the city.
Despite it,many streets were blocked. We cleared 22 tress from near the cricket stadium,market,old labour roundabout and various other roads. We also rescued 10 vehicles that were stuck in the rains, he said.
The traffic police sent five SMS alerts about the roadblocks that were created due to storm. At many places,the traffic lights stopped working compounding the problems. The traffic movement was at snails pace at most roundabouts and busy stretches of roads.
The rainfall was very severe due to the combined affect of monsoon and western disturbance. The rains and storm was localised with some areas witnessing more activity than the others. In fact,the localised rainfall is a cause of concern and a study on the phenomenan would be conducted. The rains would be less on Friday, Met Director Surinder Paul said.
Met Department officials said these types of phenomena takes place in a very highly unstable atmosphere with high moisture contents. Thunderstorm and dust storm occur mostly during summer and monsoon season.
In monsoon,thunderstorms are sometime severe and accompanied with high wind speed. This is localised and short-lived phenomena and hence,give little lead time for proper action to be taken.
Traffic Snarls at Panchkula
Traffic snarls and break down of vehicles put commuters to misery as roads got flooded due to heavy rain. There was thin attendance in schools and offices and even shops opened late. The situation became worse in slums and Abheypur village as the water entered houses and shops. At many places,garbage flowed on to roads as the drains got choked. Water in areas around Amartex roundabout,Abheypur village and Sector 19 is drained out close to Punjab but the narrow outlet led to flooding. Meanwhile,a house in Budhanpur village was struck by lightning that created a hole on the roof of the house. There was no casualty as the owner Sipahi was not present. Around afternoon,life returned to normal in city after water receded.
5 Students Injured
Five students of Sector 47 Kendriya Vidyalaya were injured when the asbestos roof of a classroom collapsed after a tree fell over it. The incident took place at around 10 am when the students were taking internal examinations. All the five students were rushed to the nearest dispensary. One of the students suffered injuries on his head. The school had to cancel the examinations. We have written to the administration to remove old trees from the school. We are even planning to get the asbestos roofs of some of the classrooms replaced by concrete, Principal C P Chaudhary said.
Mohali Comes To a Standstill
The rains brought Mohali to a standstill with roads in many parts getting submerged. Commuters,especially those on two-wheelers,were seen having a torrid time. The incessant rain lead to water logging in most areas and the potholed roads were converted into huge puddles.
The rain which lasted hours filled up the storm drains. The situation was particularly bad in low lying areas of the city where in the absence of any outlet,water entered the houses,with residents of Phase 11 being the worst hit. The fire department was called,but by the time the fire tender reached from Dera Bassi,the area was already under 2-feet water. People used buckets and pumps to get water out from the houses in order to save their household stuff.
Markets in most parts of the city were also filled with water as most of the drains had been blocked by construction materials. The roads were also filled with mud and slush and the rush hour traffic moved at a snails pace.
The pipes had been installed keeping the average rainfall in mind and desilting was done. We have made a Rs 1.46 crore scheme which has been approved by GMADA under which bigger drainage pipes will replace older ones which will take care of the areas like Phase 11 and Phase 3b2, Executive Engineer Jagjit Singh Dhami said.
Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram
