Unseasonal heavy rains with hail and thunderstorm wreaked havoc in the city on Thursday. In an incident, one person was killed after a compound wall of J P Heights building, Gondwana Square in Byramji Town collapsed. Hailstorms were reported from Nandanvan, Narendra Nagar, Sitabuldi and Dhantoli areas. Throughout the day, it was sunny and hot, but the climate changed all of a sudden towards the evening. Initially, it was light rains, but post 6 pm all hell broke loose. Heavy rains accompanied by gusty winds lashed the city triggering chaos all round. To make matters worse, several localities plunged into darkness as full grown trees got uprooted and fell on power lines.

As per information, three full grown trees got uprooted towards the compound wall that collapsed over a temporary tin shed at Gondwana Square. In this incident, three persons were reported to have got trapped under the debris. Aman Chhotelal Yadav (22) and one other person was pulled out from underneath the debris by the men of Fire Brigade and were rushed to Mayo Hospital. Of the two, Aman was declared brought dead after examination by the medicos at the Casualty Department.

B P Chandankhede, Acting Chief Fire Officer, Fire and Emergency Department, Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC), said that teams from Civil Lines Fire Station and Sugat Nagar station were rushed to the spot at Byramji Town. Thunderstorm and heavy rains uprooted trees at various other spots in the city affecting vehicular traffic. The Fire and Emergency Department received around 35 calls of uprooted trees from all over the city, Chandankhede further said. The teams from the fire department had a tough time clearing two big trees that were uprooted at Shraddhanandpeth Square and Aathrasta Chowk in Laxmi Nagar. Due to uprooting of trees, the traffic movement at both places was hampered for hours on Thursday evening. The areas worst affected were of West Nagpur, where there are quite a few big trees. Fire brigade personnel were all over the road in these areas to clear the uprooted trees. Similarly, one car and a motorcycle got damaged after uprooting of an age old tree near Narendra Nagar Fire Station. Traffic movement at many places like Bajaj Nagar Square, Laxmi Nagar Square, Shankar Nagar Square, Jhansi Rani Square, Automotive Square, North Ambazari, Deekshabhoomi Square etc. got hampered due to uprooting of trees and electricity poles.