Storm leaves behind trail of destruction
TURBULENT WEATHER Fierce storm damages homes, uproots trees and results in massive traffic jams; winds to calm down today, say weather experts
NEW DELHI: A major dust storm, followed by thunder and sporadic showers, hit the National Capital Region on Sunday leaving a trail of death and destruction in its wake.
Officials said at least two people were killed, while 18 others were injured in different parts of Delhi in the storm that also left behind damaged homes, uprooted trees and resulted in massive traffic jams across the city. Till 9pm pm, the Delhi police control room received around 391 distress calls.
According to Delhi Police, a 56-year-old woman died in Pandav Nagar after a large branch of a tree fell on her in Pandav Nagar. Elsewhere, a 19-year-old man was killed in southeast Delhi’s Jaitpur after coming under cement sheets and bricks that fell on him. In Nand Nagari, an unidentified man was rushed to the GTB hospital with critical injuries after a wall collapsed on him.
The Pandav Nagar victim was identified as Somvati Sinha, who lived with her son’s family in the compound of NGO Akhil Bharatiya Panchayat Parisar. “She was in the compound when a branch of a tree fell on her. She died on her way to the hospital,” said DCP (east) Pankaj Singh.
In the second case, an investigator said that one Rohit Kumar, 19, was sustained injures after some cement sheets and bricks fell on him from the third floor of his buidling during the storm.
“Kumar was immediately rushed to Apollo hospital but he was declared brought dead there,” said an investigator.
A Delhi Police statement said that till 9 pm, nearly 391 calls of storm related incidents were made to the control room. Of this, an official said, 255 were calls of trees falling and another 75 were of poles collapsing. There were 61 calls of tin shed or roof collapses
In some of these incidents, people sustained injuries and in some cases traffic movement was hampered throughout the city.
In a separate-related incident, five people were injured when a tin shed fell on them in Goyla Dairy near Dwarka.
“The men were standing near a building when the wind flung a tin shed down from the first floor, which then hit them. The incident was reported around 5.30pm. The men were rushed to a hospital from where they were discharged later,” said a Delhi Fire Services official.
Soon after this i ncident, another call was made from Rajnagar in Palam in which a man sustained injured when a part of a building collapsed.
“Similar calls were received from a transit camp in Govindpuri and Mohan Garden in Uttam Nagar where a wall collapsed. However, no injuries were reported in either of the two incidents,” said the Delhi Fire Services official.
Officials also said that traffic was affected throughout the city. A traffic official said major snarls were reported from 250 places due to uprooted trees. In one instance, a crane had to be called in to remove a fallen tree from Pankha Road in West Delhi.
The south and east Delhi municipal corporations received at least 14 complaints about uprooted trees from various areas, including East of Kailash where a tree fell on an electric pole. Apart from that, at least five complaints of portion of buildings collapsing were also received from five places in south Delhi.
Till 8:30pm, the New Delhi Municipal council said it had received a number of complaints about uprooting of tree near Sucheta Kriplani Hospital and Princess Park near India Gate.
Delhi police officials said they have ordered its men to remain on high alert and be ready on the ground in case of any emergency.
The winds are expected to calm down by Monday, and the temperatures are also expected to drop.
The MET department has forecast light rain on Monday, and the temperature is expected to be between 23 and 38 degrees Celsius.
“It will not be as windy on Monday. Sunday saw the maximum wind speed of the season, it may have even set some record,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, senior scientist at the regional meteorological centre in Delhi.
It will not be as windy on Monday. Sunday saw the maximum wind speed of the season. It may have even set some sort of a record. At least 70 flights were diverted due to weather conditions. All our officials are on alert and are keeping a constant watch on the situation.