Heavy rain, gusty winds leave city in a mess

Vadodara: It was mayhem that lasted for nearly an hour and left the city in a mess. Heavy rains accompanied by strong winds took the citizens by surprise on Sunday morning. The skies suddenly became dark by 7 am and winds started blowing at over 50 km per hour.
Soon, it began pouring heavily across the city. The fire brigade got over 50 calls about trees getting uprooted from different areas while big hoardings, as well as signboards, too came crashing down. The gusty winds also took down light poles over Dena flyover that was inaugurated by union minister Nitin Gadkari just two days ago. Some solar panels installed over the flyover too suffered damage.
The protection wall made under the flyover over Old Padra road too collapsed raising questions about the safety of the commuters. The city also witnessed power cuts in some areas but the situation normalized soon as rains stopped completely within a couple of hours.
A young man Krishna Chunara died due to electric current when he was passing through Gajrwadi area. He suffered shock while walking near an electricity pole.
Meanwhile, several districts in central Gujarat including Panchmahal, Chhota Udepur and Mahisagar. Solar panels installed over homes in Godhra suffered severe damages while nearly 60 trees were uprooted. One person was injured after a tin roof came off and hit him. He was admitted to the hospital for treatment. Chhota Udepur too saw heavy rains that led to blocked roads due to uprooting of dozens of trees. The wall of a house came off in the village of Chhota Udepur but no one was injured.