The massive duststorm followed by rains resulted in almost a blackout like situation in Delhi-NCR. Whole of East, North, North-West and West Delhi was reeling under power outages to the tune of four hours. Most areas in the city plunged into darkness as the storm which struck at 4.58 pm uprooted trees snapping power lines in several areas. The rain and duststorm resulted in the tripping of many transmission lines of 400 kv, 220 kv, 66 kv and 33 kv and generation plants. “A maximum load up to around 3,000 MW was affected. The tripping started at around 16:45 hours. The lines tripped include lines of both Northern Grid as well as of Delhi Transco. The major 400 kv lines include Dadri-Mandola, Ballabgarh-Bamnauli, Jhatikara-Mundaka, Bawana-Abdullapur, Bawana-Bahadurgarh etc. The tripped lines of Delhi Transco limited include Wazirabad-Geeta Colony, Mandola-Gopalpur, Mandola-Wazirabad, Bamnauli-Rohini etc. Besides, Rajghat powerhouse, GTPS, Pragati Power Station and three units of BTPS also tripped,” said a DTl official. Metro train services were disrupted on almost all lines for about an hour due to power failure during evening rush time. Meanwhile, city dwellers will face a water crisis on Saturday as operations in all the Water Treatment Plants (WTPs) under the Delhi Jal Board were severely affected for want of power. “Due to long duration disruptions of power supply at all the WTPs, about 25-30 per cent production is lost and morning supply in the city will be affected. It will be available at low pressure,” said a statement issued by the Delhi Jal Board.