Yaas Cyclone: Patna areas reel from power outages, trees uprooted

PATNA: The impact of cyclone Yaas was felt on Thursday evening when heavy rainfall lashed Patna. The weather, which had been moderately wet since morning, deteriorated as the day went by.
The evening bulletin issued by the Patna Meteorological Centre stated that the city witnessed 38.5mm rainfall between 8.30am and 8.30pm on Thursday. Heavy rain has also been forecast in the state capital on Friday. As a result of the showers, several parts of the city, including the posh localities, reeled from power outages and waterlogging. The rain also brought trees crashing down at some locations, but no major casualty or damage was reported.
District magistrate Chandrashekhar Singh and a team of officials went on a surprise visit to different locations. They checked if the sump houses and sewer lines were ready to tackle waterlogging problems.
Patna Municipal Corporation’s public relations officer (PRO) Harshita claimed that the civic body had already identified the localities prone to waterlogging. “Instruments have, therefore, been installed in those areas to pump out rainwater,” she added.
Chandra Bhushan Kumar, PRO of the Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation that manages sump houses in the city, said, “Engineers have been deployed at the sump houses to make sure that all pumps function well.”
Meanwhile, Patna divisional forest officer Ruchi Singh told this reporter that two trees, which fell near the airport and the Digha Ghat, had been cleared by three teams.
Officials of the disaster management department also pointed out that different teams of the National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force had been roped in for tackling emergency situations.
Asked about the power outages, Dilip Kumar, general manager of the Patna Electric Supply Undertaking, replied, “Although we have been asked to supply electricity to hospitals and sump houses on a priority basis, we ensured that power was restored in different localities as soon as possible on Thursday.”
Phulwarisharif resident Shad Azmi, who is a theoretical physicist, waited all day long for the rain to stop. “I had to buy medicines for my brother from a nearby store. I do not know what to do,” he wondered amid the heavy rainfall.