Nagpur: Unseasonal rainfall that lashed Nagpur city as well as various parts of Vidarbha region on Friday brought down the mercury which was rising for the past some time. In parts of Akola and Amravati, hailstorm lashed the hope of farmers too.
As per the official data till 8.30 pm, Nagpur received 17.3 mm rainfall while Buldana received the highest 34 mm rainfall in the region. Around afternoon on Friday, India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials issued alert that thunderstorm with lightning/gusty wind with speed up to 40-50 kmph was very likely to occur at a few places in Nagpur, Wardha, Yavatmal, Amravati, and at isolated places in Buldana and Bhandara district.
A hailstorm was predicted for Akola district. Earlier also, there was a forecast of rains on Friday and the next two days. Towards Friday late afternoon, most of these forecasts came true. While parts of Amravati and Akola districts were lashed by hailstorm, Nagpur city and other places in the region received light to moderate rainfall.
In Nagpur district, reports of unseasonal rainfall in Katol tehsil also came in. As per the official data, till 5.30 pm on Friday, Nagpur received 11 mm rainfall. Buldhana received 34 mm, the highest rainfall in the region. IMD officials also forecast the possibility of hailstorm at isolated places in Nagpur, Wardha, Yavatmal districts of Vidarbha region.
As per the Climatic Features for the month of April for Nagpur issued by Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) Nagpur, thunderstorms are most common in the afternoon or evening when the western disturbances pass north India because they draw moist air from the sea to inland. On ‘rare instances’, these summer thunderstorms are also followed by strong winds, squalls, and hail.
Meanwhile, in Nagpur city, due to rainfall, once again, the damaged portions of the roads got submerged. At various places, like near Rahate Colony Square, due to ongoing cement road construction and narrowed motorable width of Wardha Road available for vehicles, led to traffic jams and the traffic signals were of no help in regulating traffic. Though this has been a regular scene for the past few days, rainfall aggravated the situation. Similarly, at some other places, like near Jaitala last bus-stop, as the roads were dug up for some works but were not repaired properly, the people had a bumpy ride as the potholes and unrepaired portions got submerged for a while due to rains.
Power cuts:
Post unseasonal downpour, electricity network in Second Capital of the State tripped on Friday afternoon onwards. Many parts witnessed power fluctuations towards evening and initially nobody batted an eye as people thought the power would get restored quite early. But one particular part, Manish Nagar and Jai Durga Layout under Narendra Nagar sub-station continues its unreliability in terms of power supply.
While in other parts of the city, the cuts were intermittent and at few other places the power was restored after a brief pause. But in Jai Durga Layout, Narendra Nagar, Manish Nagar, and nearby residential localities, it was tormenting for three hours as people went without power. Incidentally the Manish Nagar, Jai Durga Layout and Narendra Nagar is now a thriving business hub and hence such long power cuts puts businesses in major trouble. Due to unseasonal rain and dark skies, darkness had set early and a long power cut made the situation more miserable.
Later in the evening, MSEDCL officials said that a 33 KV line at Chinchbhavan developed technical snag resulting in prolonged power cuts. Areas of Kapil Nagar, Nara, Badkas Square, BadaTajbagh, Bangali Panja, Anmol Nagar, Mahalaxmi Nagar, Shastri Nagar also faced power cuts. Even the street lights network of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) took a severe beating post unseasonal downpour. With street lights down, people drove with high beam lights that aggravated the situation.
