Thursday thunderstorm leaves a trail of destruction in Ludhiana

The thunderstorm accompanied by strong winds on Thursday evening wreaked havoc on the city with trees uprooted at over 55 locations and electric wires damaged at multiple sites.

A major tragedy was averted as trees fell on two cars near Jamalpur Chowk while the vehicles were moving at a slow pace due to traffic jam. The occupants, however, came out safely. In Haibowal Kalan, boundary wall of a plot collapsed at a parked car, while a sign board was damaged on Chandigarh Road. No casualty was reported at any of these spots.

Areas where trees got uprooted included Civil Lines, Model Town Extension, Model Gram, Haibowal, Dugri, Jamalpur, Gill Road, Chandigarh Road and Rakh Bagh, among others. Movement of traffic was hit at a few points, including Jamalpur Chowk, Civil Lines, and Gill Road, after fallen trees blocked the roads. Power wires were also damaged at most of the points as a result of uprooted trees.

Similar damage was reported from the areas near the official residences of deputy commissioner (DC) Varinder Sharma and MC commissioner Pardeep Sabharwal as well. Strong winds also uprooted trees in Rakh Bagh, damaging a few swings and a trampoline. Trees fell on the tracks of toy train, but fortunately no one was injured as the park was closed at that time.

A resident of Bhamiyan Road, Manjit Singh, said, “A direction board (unipole) installed at the centre of Chandigarh Road broke following strong winds on Thursday evening. Even though it was not the civic body’s fault, these unipoles should not be installed in the middle of the road. Even if they have to, these should be made of concrete material to avoid any mishap.”

An employee of the corporate house looking after the maintenance of Rakh Bagh, Gurmukh Singh, said that fortunately, no one was injured after few trees fell near the activity area as the park was closed at that time.

MC teams remained on toes till late night

As per MC officials, the field staff remained on toes to clear the main roads of fallen trees in order to ease the movement of traffic till 2am on Friday.

The officials said that 90% of the complaints were resolved by Friday noon.

MC junior engineer Kirpal Singh said different teams of the civic body were deployed for removing the damaged trees and priority was given to those areas where movement of traffic was affected after trees blocked roads.

“The teams remained on field till 2am. The work to clear the trees restarted at 7am on Friday and over 95% of the complaints have been resolved,” he added.

Storm claims 55-year-old woman’s life

A 55-year-old woman died after a cement roofing sheet fell on her in Preet Nagar on Tajpur Road after the storm hit the city on Thursday night. A two-and-a-half-year old boy and a pregnant woman have also suffered injuries as branches of trees fell on them following the high-velocity winds.

The deceased has been identified as Surkhi Kaur. Kin of the deceased said that Surkhi was standing outside her house when the high-velocity winds hit the city. All of a sudden, a cement roofing sheet fell on her and she died on the spot.

The Tibba police have handed over the body to the family after the autopsy.