Storm blows off cafeteria hall in the Games village

The storm broke nearly all the window panes of the 400 houses, put up by the Karnataka Housing Board for the participants in the village, and also brought down the 25-foot giant archway at the entrance of the Games village.When this correspondent visited the village at 8 pm, the village was plunged in complete darkness and the kaccha roads were full of mud and slush. Pools of water were found on either side of the roads. The storm also uprooted the electric polls and telephone lines.

According to Mysore Deputy Commissioner Ajay Seth, who spoke to The Indian Express, as many as 20 gymnasts were having a late lunch inside the cafeteria hall, when the storm struck.

Alongwith the gymnasts, MCC Commissioner Kaniram and Assistant Commissioner Ashok Anand were also present in the hall when the steel sheets started flying.

“The 20 gymnasts and the officials had a fortunate escape. We are lucky we do not have a major mishap on our hands,” Seth said.

Around 300 participants housed in the village had an open-air dinner at a make-shift hall on Sunday night.

Meanwhile, Seth expressed confidence that the roads will be cleared and a fresh cafeteria hall put up in the Games village by Monday evening.Traffic was also disrupted on the Mysore-Mangalore Highway for an hour, with the archway crashing on to the road during the storm.

Seth, who personally supervised the crisis management, made repeated announcements to the participants not to touch the electric poles till the KEB had cleared the lines. The power and telephone lines were finally restored at 8:30 pm.

And then began the work to clear up the roads in the village. Only the morning will confirm the extent of damage.