Parts of Delhi face blackouts as poles, wires damaged by thunderstorm, rain

Several parts of the national capital faced blackouts as poles, wires and other electrical installations were damaged by the severe thunderstorm and heavy rains that hit the city on Monday evening.

The instances of power disruption in the city were primarily due to felling of trees and branches on overhead electricity lines and poles, an official of BSES discoms BRPL and BYPL said.

The discom that cover most parts of the city claimed that power supply was restored "quickly" in most of the affected areas.

"The BSES discoms were on a high alert and pressed quick response teams into service. It took a little longer than usual for restoring electricity in some areas as tree cutting and removal was undertaken by civic agencies," an official said.

Short-circuit, sparking and outages also affected power supply as wet and swinging tree branches came in contact with overhead cables, he added.

Several parts of North Delhi, including Narela, Bawana, Burari, Rohini, and Civil Lines, faced power disruptions due to the storm, said a spokesperson of discom TPDDL.

"Gusty winds, thunderstorm and heavy rain enveloped Delhi this evening, the power supply was affected in several parts of North Delhi. The storm inflicted damages to the electrical network, causing power disruption due to tripping, and falling of trees and branches on the overhead electricity lines and poles," he said.

The situation was being assessed and damage to 40 electric poles was reported, she said.

The network restoration work is in progress in affected areas in a phased manner, relentless efforts are being taken to minimise the effect, said TPDDL spokesperson.

Meanwhile, the city was brought to a standstill as the downpour and resulting waterlogging coupled with uprooted trees led to massive traffic snarls.

Trees were uprooted at several places, including Bhai Vir Singh Marg on Gole Market near the Nepal Embassy and Parliament Street police station, leading to obstruction of traffic.

Kasturba Gandhi Marg in the heart of the city was completely closed for vehicular movement for hours after some trees were uprooted there.

There were also visuals of electricity poles damaging vehicles in South Extension market while a Delhi Traffic Police booth at Vijay Chowk was damaged due to the strong winds.

According to traffic police, traffic jams were reported from Lajpat Nagar, Ashram, Malviya Nagar, Sarai Kale Khan, Connaught Place, Ashoka Road, KG Marg, Feroza road among other places, said a traffic police official

Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic) S S Yadav said, "Vehicular movement had obviously become slow but our teams ensured that ambulances near AIIMS, RML and other hospitals did not face any hurdle. No calls regarding ambulances being stuck were received."

Delhi Fire Services Director Atul Garg said, the fire department was making all efforts to clear the road in central Delhi where the maximum trees fell besides attending normal calls.

Social media users tagged Delhi Traffic Police by sharing photos of various locations where trees had been uprooted. The Delhi Police assured people that their issues were being taken care of.

Mahesh Kumar, an auto driver stuck in a jam on Jai Singh Marg said, "I started from the High Court and after seeing traffic on reaching Ashoka road where some trees had fallen, I took several detours to finally reach Jai Singh Marg but have been stuck here for the last 1.30 hours.