Power cuts, heavy traffic: High-speed winds, rainfall wreak havoc in Pune

The change in weather wreaked havoc in several parts of the city, especially in Pune Camp, Hadapsar, Koregaon Park, and Wanworie. The areas suffered prolonged power outages and heavy traffic jams as authorities tried to restore power and take the trees and branches that had fallen on the roads.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (traffic) Rohidas Pawar said there were traffic jams as main roads such as Prince of Wales, Napier Road, Main Kondhwa Road, Wanworie Road were blocked by trees, which compounded congestion in the entire area. In many places, it wasn’t possible for the fire brigade teams to pull the tree trunks from the road. They had to cut the trunks into smaller pieces and then move them from the road.

“In many places, the fire brigade vehicles were also stuck which exacerbated the situation,” said the DCP.

According to Nilesh Mahajan from the Pune fire brigade, around 30-35 incidents of tree or tree branches falling on the roads were reported during the rain spell on Monday evening, with most of them concentrated n Pune Camp, Wanowrie, and Hadapsar areas, which also witnessed maximum traffic jams..

“About 25 incidents were reported by 8.30pm. Our men were on the ground and their work was affected due to heavy traffic congestion. Near Empress Garden, a heavy tree branch fell on a man’s car. The car was badly damaged but it was a close shave for the man who escaped with minor injuries,” said Mahajan.

‘5-6 hours power outages in some parts’

According to engineers of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL), three trees fell near Armed Forces Medical College and Padma Vilas Enclave.

In several areas of the city, especially the eastern parts, power supply was disrupted for more than three hours and heavy water logging on the roads led to traffic chaos.

While MSEDCL officials attributed the power cut to trees and branches falling on power lines, residents in Wanowrie, Fatimanagar, Kondhwa , Undri and Hadapsar said they faced power cuts at least six to seven times on Monday even when there was no rain. Residents pinned the blame on MSEDCL’s infrastructure and the faulty and outdated equipment of the state power utility for the frequent power cuts. Officials admitted that that pre-monsoon maintenance work had been initiated in May but was impacted by the rain.

Residents of Azadnagar complained that they were in darkness for several hours after the power failure that occurred around 4pm on Monday. Due to the gusty winds, a number of trees fell on the overhead wires near the Armed Forces Medical College and Bishop’s School. It took sometime for the fire brigade to reach the spot and help the MSEDCL restore power supply in the area.

Meanwhile, the IMD said Pune and its surrounding regions would receive rainfall and thunderstorms for the next two days.