Thunderstorm pulls down trees, leaves properties damaged

A high-velocity thunderstorm during the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday damaged cars and two-wheelers, uprooted trees, electric poles and signboards, and led to a power outage lasting more than 14 hours in several parts of the city

A high-velocity thunderstorm during the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday damaged cars and two-wheelers, uprooted trees, electric poles and signboards, and led to a power outage lasting more than 14 hours in several parts of the city.

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As many as 30 cars were damaged in residential areas of sectors 56, 57, Sohna Road, Golf Course Extension Road, Manesar, Palam Vihar, Dundahera, Badhshahpur and sectors 17 and 14 on Monday night. Residents woke up to see uprooted trees lying on their cars on Tuesday morning.

The police control room received 36 calls on Monday and 42 on Tuesday regarding damaged properties and electricity poles.

Pankaj Parashar, the fire officer of Sector 29 station, said that they received several calls from residents about damaged cars due to uprooted trees. “We had sent vehicles to different areas to remove the trees and tried to pull up electric poles which fell on Monday night. We have cleared several roads which were blocked due to the falling of trees. Damages have been reported from many parts of the city,” he said on Tuesday.

The city has been facing extreme weather conditions over the past two days, being hit with thunderstorms during the night. Clothes, chairs and other household goods were strewn across the floor due to the winds.

As per a forecast by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), there is a possibility of a partly cloudy sky with one or two spells of rain or thundershowers on Wednesday as well. Officials said the sky will remain cloudy and a thunderstorm could also be in the offing.

The minimum temperature on Tuesday was recorded at 21°C, five degrees below the normal for this time of the year, and the maximum temperature was 33°C. However, data on wind speed was unavailable.

Anoop Kumar, a resident of Sector 17, said that he was driving back home from Jaipur and took the Southern Peripheral Road (SPR) road to drop his friend in Sector 71 when a tree landed on his car. “As soon as I took left towards SPR, a heavy tree fell on my car. We escaped unhurt but the roof of my Honda City and front bonnet were damaged. We called another friend to drop us home and called a crane to tow the car to the service centre,” he said.

Many residents said they moved their cars to sheltered spots when winds started blowing in the night.

Amit Jindal, the president of Vipul Greens residents’ welfare association (RWA) on Sohna Road, said that recent storms caused substantial damages to trees and at least five cars. “Every year, fully grown trees are uprooted due to thunderstorms that damage cars parked in open slots. In the last storm on Sunday night, at least four trees and four cars were damaged. As the storms rage, we see residents running to get their cars to safety. In the process, they risk their lives amid falling branches,” he said.

Yashesh Yadav, a resident of Vatika India Next, a residential society in Sector 83, said that sudden extreme weather condition on Sunday and Monday night brought down many big trees in their township, which damaged vehicles parked in the society. “We were able to move a few of them in time, thanks to the alertness of the guards, but still, more than five vehicles were damaged. Fortunately, no one was hurt during the storm,” he said.

In Sector 46, at least 10 vehicles were damaged on Sunday night due to a thunderstorm. “I had parked my car around 1am outside my house and around 5.30am, when I went to check my car, I saw a huge tree trunk had fallen on three cars including mine, and damaged them,” said Rahul Kumar, an executive working with an IT company in Udyog Vihar.

Rajkumar Yadav, the president of Sector 46 RWA, said that more than 20 trees fell in the sector damaging properties on Monday night. “Trees even blocked the roads, leading to traffic issues in the internal sector roads. We hired people to remove the trees and sent all damaged vehicles to workstations for repair. Residents have suffered losses due to natural calamity, but authorities should have timely pruned the trees. No one even bothers to check independent residential areas,” he said.

At least five cars were damaged in sectors 56 and 57 on Sunday and Monday night, said residents.

Joginder Singh, a resident, said that water tanks were flung on the parked cars during the storm, causing severe damage. “Residents in these sectors park their vehicles on the road outside their houses which are prone to such calamities,” he said.