The pre-monsoon showers accompanied by a thunderstorm, which several parts of Pune experienced on Friday evening, caused some accidents, incidents of trees getting uproted, and power failures in various parts of the city.
Owing to the ongoing lockdown, there was no traffic on the roads, which meant that nobody was injured when trees or branches fell on roads or structures came crashing down due to strong winds.
One of the major incidents recorded by the Fire Brigade was the toppling of an overhead sign board arch — made of heavy metal — near Sancheti Hospital in Shivajinagar in the midst of the thunderstorm. “It took us several hours to move the giant structure off the road. It fell with a loud thud at the entrance of the grade operator near Sancheti Bridge, which links Shivajingar with Pune district court. Thankfully, due to the lockdown, there was no traffic on the road which otherwise is among the busiest roads in the city,” said a Fire Brigade official.
According to officials with Pune Municipal Corporation’s fire department, as many as 60 calls were received by the control room about trees getting uprooted and falling on the roads from various parts of the city including J M Road, Shivaji Road, Mangalwar Peth and suburban parts such as Karve Nagar and Sinhagad Road.
At Mangalwar Peth, a manora (a structure created above a building) came crashing down. No one was injured in the incident.
Gusty winds and rains lash city, cloudy conditions to continue for two days
Gusty winds lashed the city on Friday, and later gave way for moderate to heavy rain in some areas. The rainfall recorded in the city till 5.30 pm was 19.7 mm.
According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), the city will experience cloudy conditions even on Saturday. ” Along with cloudy skies, there are chances of thunder activity. Gusty winds would be accompanied by light rain for two more days,” said an official from the IMD’s weather department.
Wind discontinuity has led to moisture incursion from the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, which is being attributed for this thunderstorm over the state.
Since mid-week, the city has been experiencing humid and overcast sky conditions. Even though some sporadic rains were reported in Pimpri-Chinchwad on Thursday, the twin town remained dry on Friday.
However, by next week, the Met department has predicted that clear sky conditions would return, making weather conditions warmer.