Rain and squall on Thursday evening led to uprooting of many trees across Ludhiana and caused damages to both movable and non-movable properties.
A huge old tree was uprooted and fell on a car parked near it in Tagore Nagar.
“The tree was so huge that it became difficult to move it aside. Several people were required to remove it from the place,” said a worker on the site.
On Jassian Road, a tree fell on the wall of a house due to which it collapsed.
“When the incident occurred, I thought it was a cloudburst. Later, I came to know that a tree damaged the wall of our house,” said Sheela, a resident.
Trees were uprooted at several places across the city, including Rishi Nagar, Sarabha Nagar, Model Town and Rajguru Nagar.
A huge tree that fell on a parked car during a squall at Tagore Nagar in Ludhiana on Thursday evening. Ashwani Dhiman
The aftermath of the inclement weather was faced by residents on Friday also as power supply remain disrupted for many hours.
Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) reported that on Wednesday and Thursday, 150 transformers, 428 poles and several power cables/wires were destroyed, leading to losses of around Rs 3.5 crore due to the squall and rain. Chief Engineer, PSPSCL, Jagdev Singh Hans, said staff were working the entire day on Friday to restore power suuply in areas where it was disrupted.
“There was no electricity on Thursday and on Friday, it was restored in the afternoon only. It became difficult to manage the situation as water was also not available,” said Navkiran Kaur.
A resident from Tagore Nagar said the transformer near their house got damaged due to the storm. and there was no electricity since then.
Tarun Arora, a shopkeeper from Model Town, said: “We had to shut our shop early due to power disruptions.
Meanwhile, Harjit Singh, a commuter stranded on Tagore Nagar Road, said: “Traffic jams were witnessed for hours as tree branches were lying on the road. The authorities must clear the same in a fast way to avoid any accident.”
Sunita Sharma, a homemaker from Rajguru Nagar, said: “Children faced problem while studying in night hours and elders faced inconvenience in the absence of power. The storm passed in a few minutes but its impact is still haunting us.”
