Storm rains fury tree falls, kills man

CHANDIGARH/MOHALI/ PANCHKULA : A dust storm with winds of up to 90km/h, followed by heavy rain, lashed Tricity on Friday evening, killing a man in Chandigarh’s Sector 10 and leaving nearly 20 injured.

The bad weather also hit power supply, brought traffic to a halt, and uprooted several trees. The deceased, said to be a daily-wager, was yet to be identified. He died after a tree, uprooted by strong winds, fell on him on the road dividing sectors 10 and 11. At the time this story was filed, 15 people were admitted in Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, and five in Government Multi-Specialty Hospital (GMSH) in Sector 16 due to accidents caused by bad weather.

Helplines of the UT police and electricity department got 20 calls of trees being uprooted and 100 calls of power supply being hit, respectively.

Earlier, after a day during which the temperature touched a high of 38.3°C, the sky turned overcast by 4.30pm. What followed was utter chaos as a dust storm and heavy rain lashed Tricity for nearly an hour. Tricity was plunged in near darkness, as high-speed winds snapped power lines. The bad weather also affected the movement of traffic.

Clouds from hills

The city received nearly 14mm rain in an hour. The Chandigarh director of Indian Meteorological Department, Surinder Paul, said the change in weather was caused by an “unanticipated shift in the atmospheric pressure in Himachal Pradesh”. “Black clouds blew in from the hill state. The weather changed across Tricity, Ropar, and Kharar. However, Punjab and Haryana were not affected,” he said.

Meanwhile, most of the injured were sent back either after first aid or were being treated for fractures, said staff of the two hospitals.

The change in weather caused the minimum temperature to fall to 31.2°C.

The storm caused significant damage across Tricity. There were several reports of trees falling on cars. In Panchkula, a mobile tower came crashing down because of the wind.

Cars damaged

A car was damaged near the AG office in Sector 17, after a tree fell on it. A large hoarding attached to a unipole in the main market of Sector 11, Panchkula, too came crashing down because of the storm. A tree also fell behind the Sector 16 stadium, which covered most part of the path. Uprooted trees also brought traffic to a halt on several main roads, as they blocked the entire traffic.

There was one such traffic snarl on the road dividing sector 11 and 12.T raffic on the road dividing sectors 7 and 19, Chandigarh, was affected for nearly half hour because of a tree being uprooted. A tree was also uprooted in a parking lot of Sector 8, Chandigarh.

The winds were so strong that a transformer fell in Phase 1 of Industrial Area, Panchkula. Two trees were uprooted in Sector 29, Chandigarh, too. An electricity pole along with high tension wires fell down in a residential block of Sector 7, Panchkula, blocking the road completely.