Unseasonal thunderstorms hit twin cities
| Date :30-May-2019 |
Staff Reporter:
In scorching heat of summer season, thunderstorms as well as little shower at steel city on Wednesday evening, with people welcoming the respite from the hot and sultry weather. However, their joy was short-lived as strong winds briefly knocked out the power supply in most of the parts of steel city including Supela, Powerhouse, Khursipar, Bhilai Township, Nehru Nagar, Junwani and Kohka areas. The officials of weather forecasting department as well as environmentalists said such thunderstorm are common during this time of the year- a precursor to hot and sultry days ahead. These sudden bursts of rain and wind can often affect power supply and damage electrical and electronics appliances.
The Chhattisgarh State Power Distribution Company Limited said pre-monsoon weather conditions like thunderstorms and revolving winds can affect equipment like transformers, electrical wires and utility poles. “Winds cause branches of trees to come into contact with electricity lines while rain cause waterlogging, thus damaging underground electrical installations. This can result in interruptions to the electricity like domestic and commercial and even agriculture,” said Praveen Singh, superintending engineer of Chhattisgarh State Power Distribution Company Limited (CSPDCL) of Durg circle.
On Wednesday, most of the private colonies as well as township of the city witnessed power havoc for hours and in many areas, power supply was affected till midnight and it flicked on after 12 am. A senior officer of CSPDCL Urban Durg stated that severe weather like thunderstorm poses risk in the form of power surges and spikes cause by lightning strikes hitting the electrical grid. “Power interruptions owing to the thunderstorm damaged electrical and electronics appliances of many households in Powerhouse and Khursipar. Due to sudden burst of high voltage or short circuits after rainfall and thunderstorm damaged our appliances like television, microoven and personal computer,” told Seeta Mishra, lawyer and a resident of Khursipar Bhilai. All of the city even some parts of Durg also suffered a blackout for nearly two to five hours. The department had to cut off power supply several times as a preventive measure. “There was a shortfall of power supply of nearly three lakh units during summer season due to excessive demand of the supply,” pointed Rashmi Sharma, executive engineer of CSPDCL.
Apart from power supply affect, this thunderstorm also affected the traffic of the city as uprooting of trees located in nearby roads due to thunderstorm. “We all are scared after seeing thunderstorm and falling of trees and branches. But due to alertness, we were saved from it,” informed Nehru Nagar residents. Meanwhile, in Durg city on Wednesday evening, strong storm uprooted trees, hoardings and utility poles in various parts of the city. The storm interrupted power supply in the area as such the water supply in the second shift from 24 MLD and 42 MLD Filter Plant under Durg Municipal Corporation got affected. Gusty winds uprooted trees at Battalion, Santara Badi, Dhamda Road, Nehru Nagar and other areas of the city. Tin roofs of a couple of shops and houses were also blown away in the wind. The speed of the storm was so high that it broke the windows of few apartments. Due to disruption in power supply, traffic cops were seen on roads manually managing the traffic. However, the situation got normal after a couple of hours in the city.