Thunderstorm, rain wreak havoc in city

Kanpur: Climatic conditions all of a sudden changed on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday as city witnessed a thunderstorm and rain. The combination of storm and rain uprooted trees at several places, resulting in power disruption at several localities and villages due to power wire breaks and power pole bending. Though there was no casualty reported, reports of property damage surfaced from several parts of the city.

Though the rainfall was recorded as 24.2 mm in just 45 minutes, but it was enough to submerge several low-lying roads and areas in water logging. Tall claims of Kanpur Municipal Corporation to fix the waterlogging issue at Juhi railway under bridge once again proved false as it was turned into a pool.

Due to waterlogging at the bridge, the police blocked the road in the morning, resulting in shifting of heavy traffic load to Govind Nagar bridge and Naya Pul. Office goers and school studens had to change their routes and they reached late at their destinations.

Jhakarkatti Inter State Bus Terminal, several places of GT road, and roads of Kanpur South also witnessed waterlogging. Two big and old trees at Ram Krishna Nagar in Darshan Puwa locality were uprooted. One of them fell over the house of one Uday Pratap. The front phase of the house was badly damaged. Luckily, no one suffered any injury. The tree also damaged the power supply.

The Met section recorded the wind speed as 40 km per hour.

One person died and three of a family were injured when the second floor of a building in Jaguapur village in Bilhour fell in the storm. The debris fell over a temporary shed where one person along with three children was sleeping. The deceased was identified as Anil. A goat also died.

More than 200 trees were uprooted in several villages of Ghatampur tehsil.

According to SDM Ghatampur Avichal Pratap Singh, tehsil has suffered loss in several lakhs. The revenue teams were assessing the loss as they were on the spot.