Pune witnesses strong winds and thunderstorms

Pune: On Friday, many parts of Pune witnessed strong winds and thunderstorms followed by light rainfall. As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Pune recorded 19.7-millimetre rainfall on Friday. The met department has forecasted that thundery activity is likely on Saturday afternoon as well. After the rains, fire brigade got over 100 calls for tree falls.

Pune Fire Brigade chief Prashant Ranpise said that from 3 pm there were calls related to tree fall in different areas of the city.

"Till 6 pm there were about 100 calls. Our team from all the fire stations are on the job and they are engaged in removing the trees. Till now, we have not got any call of injury to people," said Ranpise.

He added that a mobile tower in Mangalwar Peth, direction signboard near COEP hostel at Sancheti Hospital Chowk, also fell down.

"A police check post in Warje was damaged. A very old banyan tree outside Yerwada jail fell down during the rain," said Ranpise.

PREDICTIONS FOR CITY AND STATE
As per the weather department, in the coming week, Pune city may witness a rise in day temperature with clear skies.

"Parts of Maharashtra like Vidarbha, Konkan and Goa and Marathwada may experience light rains along with thundery activity and lightening on May 2," said IMD officials.

WEATHER ACROSS INDIA
The thunderstorm was observed across many parts of the country.

IMD has predicted thunderstorm accompanied by lightning and squall very likely at isolated places over Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Uttarakhand and Odisha on May 2.

The met department has forecasted lightning and gusty winds over Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan, Muzaffarabad, east Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam and Meghalaya, south interior Karnataka and Kerala and Mahe.

Lightning is predicted at isolated places over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Bihar, Madhya Maharashtra, Saurashtra and Kutch, Konkan and Goa, Telangana and coastal and north interior Karnataka on May 2.

Duststorm and thunderstorm accompanied with gusty winds are very likely over Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan on May 2.