A high-intensity dust storm hit several parts of the country on Sunday evening, claiming at least 30 lives, including 2 in Delhi, and derailing flight and metro services in the national Capital. The squall and dust storm that barreled through Delhi and NCR regions with wind speeda of up to 109 kmph uprooted trees and brought down dilapidated houses.
As Delhi Metro services were badly affected due to technical snags, commuters had a horrowing experience even as radio taxis and online taxi services were not readily available as demands soared multiple times. “I had to get out of the Rajiv Chowk Metro station after waiting for a Blueline metro train for around 45 minutes. Once I got out, more chaos greeted me. Autos were demanding exorbitant fare as people made a beeline to get one ,” said Ajay Kumar.
Thunderstorm and dust storm with wind speeds of up to 70 km per hour are “very likely” in 26 districts of Uttar Pradesh on Monday, the weather office warned on Sunday.
It said the districts that could be affected are Bahraich, Shrawasti, Balrampur, Gonda, Siddharth Nagar, Maharajganj, Kushinagar, Gorakhpur, Sant Kabir Nagar, Basti, Faizabad, Sultanpur, Azamgargh and Ambedkar Nagar. The other districts are Mau, Deoria, Ballia, Ghazipur, Jaunpur, Pratapgargh, Allahabad, Sant Ravidas Nagar, Varanasi, Chandauli, Mirzapur and Sonbhadra, it said.
Cases of casualty were reported from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Delhi-NCR.
A 56-year-old woman died after the branch of a tree fell on her in East Delhi’s Pandav Nagar during the storm, the police said. Somvati Sinha was out for an evening walk when the branch of a tree fell on her. She sustained severe head injuries and was rushed to hospital where she was declared brought dead. She was accompanied by her neighbours but they scurried to safety before the when the branch fell on her. She was a widow and a homemaker and her son was employed with a private firm, police said.
In another incident, a 19-year-old man died after cement sheets and bricks fell on him from the third floor of a house in southeast Delhi’s Jaitpur. The victim, Rohit, was injured and was shifted to Apollo Hospital where he died.
At least eight people were killed across Kasganj, Agra, Ghaziabad, Greater Noida and Aligarh in the qthunderstorm. One person was killed and four others were injured after a tree fell on them near lal Kuan Shiv temple in Ghaziabad.
In Greater Noida, a woman was killed and a man was seriously injured after a hoarding fell on them during the storm. One person was killed in Aligarh. Three deaths took place in Parsoli village of Kasganj while one was killed in Barona village of the same district. Seven persons were struck dead by lightning, while three others were injured in Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh. Two were killed and three injured in Kadapa distict, sources said.
Srikakulam district collector Dhananjay Reddy told PTI that the seven casualties were reported from different mandals in the district.
At least six people were killed and over 10 injured in different districts of West Bengal after lightning struck them amid heavy rain, an official of the State disaster management department said.
Five deaths were reported from Howrah district, while one person died in Murshidabad district, he said.
Dr Rajendera Jenamai, weather expert for Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), said that prolonged thunderstorm and frequent wind shear in flight path as reported by pilot while attempting to land has been very unusual. Airport was under prolonged severe weather during 1630-1930 hrs. “70 flights diverted,” Dr Jenami confirmed.
“ A Vistara’s Srinagar-Delhi flight was diverted to Amritsar and its lucknow-Delhi flight was sent to lucknow due to the inclement weather and other flights alos been diverted,” a DIAl official confirmed.
After closing runways for some time, all operations pertaining to flights were resumed later, the official said.
Delhi Metro services were affected at several stations on the Violet and Blue lines after trees fell on overhead electricity (OHE) wires.
According to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), services on the Violet line were affected for 40 minutes as trains ran in two loops between Sarita Vihar and Escorts Mujesar, and between Nehru Place and Kashmere Gate stations from 5 pm to 5:40 pm.
“This was necessitated due to falling of a tree on OHE wires between Okhla and Jasola stations due to the thunderstorm. The service normalised at 5:40 pm,” the DMRC said in a statement.
Similarly, train services on the Blue line between Noida Sector 16 to Noida City Centre were not available since 5:15 pm due to damage to OHE wire on down section of the Blue line (towards Noida). Services were restored at 6:50 pm, it said.
The DMRC also said service between Inderprashtha and Karol Bagh (on the Blue line) was not available from 5.15 pm due to a tree falling on the overhead electricity (OHE) wires of the up section of the line (towards Dwarka) between Rajiv Chowk and RK Ashram.
Normal services on this section were restored at 7:37 pm, it said. Now, train services on all lines of the Delhi metro are running as per normal schedule after repair of overhead electricity (OHE) wires. There is no problem anywhere in the network, the DMRC said in the statement.
Four incidents of wall collapse were reported from Najafgarh, Transit Camp, Nehru Place, Mohan Garden in Uttam Nagar and Raj Nagar in Palam, said a senior officer from the Delhi Fire Service.
The sudden change of weather in brought relief to Delhi residents came after a sweltering day, when the maximum temperature had reached 40.60 degrees Celsius, a notch above the normal, the meteorological department official said. Humidity during the morning hours was recorded at 60 per cent, the official added.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Saturday predicted that Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh would witness thunderstorm accompanied by squall.
Its forecast said parts of Rajasthan might also see dust storm.
Thunderstorm over the northern hill-States and its effect in the plains is due to a western disturbance, the IMD said.
“Thunderstorm accompanied with gusty winds are also very likely at isolated places over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, west Uttar Pradesh, Vidharbha, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Telangana, north coastal Andhra Pradesh, south interior Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, lakshadweep and Kerala,” the IMD said in an advisory said.