The thunderstorm which arose on Saturday night in Haridwar district has thrown life out of gear for the city residents. Two deaths were reported from Roorkee area while the power failure continued for the whole of Sunday at many places throwing life out of gear. The residents woke up on Sunday morning with no electricity and water supply and trees and electricity poles uprooted at many places causing trouble to daily commuters.
In Kankhal Pahari bazaar area, the locals raised protest against district administration for slow pace of repair work by the electricity department.
A youth Anurag Saini in Kaliyar police station died after getting dumped under a tree which fell on him. Another person, Rajneesh of Saharanpur who had gone to market late evening got stuck in thunderstorm and died in hospital during treatment.
Hoardings and bill boards had fallen on the main streets of the Haridwar city disrupting traffic for the whole day. A massive tree branch fell on the camp office of district magistrate giving the parked vehicles a narrow escape.
With the help of crane the branches of the tree were removed on Sunday. A tree damaged a parked car in Kharkhari area and near Jwalapur railway chowki, a car and a bike were completely damaged when the rubble of demolished wall came over the vehicles parked.
The residents of Pahari Bazar in Kankhal staged a protest against district administration and Nagar Nigam for the slow repair work of uprooted electric poles and wiring. The residents alleged that even after passing of 18 hours the befallen tree was not lifted. Speaking to the Pioneer Gaurav Sharma said, “The disaster management cell of the district is a total failure. Even after 18 hours have passed, Nagar Nigam could not arrange a crane to lift the tree from the electric pole.”
Another resident of Pahari Bazar Sunil Dutt said, “The electricity department people are working on the fallen electric poles and repairing the connection. The power supply was cut at night fearing the spread of current in residential areas. We are waiting for the supply to resume. Meanwhile we have to fetch water from handpump located a mile away from this place.”
The district disaster management officer Meera Kaintura , city magistrate Jaibharat SIngh, SDM Pratush Singh surveyed the city areas to assess the damage and loss caused due to heavy rain and thunder on Saturday night.