Rain, wind plunge City into darkness

Rain, wind plunge City into darkness
DH News Service, Bangalore:
Darkness engulfed a large part of Bangalore on Tuesday, as high-velocity winds and rain uprooted over 40 electric poles and more than 50 trees across the City, besides affecting the 400 KVA power station at Somanahalli.

Water supply hit
With power severely disrupted, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) announced late Tuesday night that water supply will not be available throughout Wednesday.

Power supply was affected in several parts of the City, including Jayanagar, Banashankari, ISRO Layout, Basavana-gudi, Girinagar and surrounding areas.

“The worst part is that the Power Grid Corpo-ration Limited’s (PGCL) 400kVA power station at Somanahalli has also been affected, while the 220kVA line connec-ting the City has also been damaged due to the rains,” said a top official from the Bangalore Electricity Supply Com-pany (BESCOM).

The sudden rain accompanied by gusty winds left a trail of destruction on Tuesday evening. The BESCOM official said the damage was so severe that it would be tough to assess the loss since the overhead electric cables had snapped at several places. Till late Tuesday night, power supply could not be restored.

He said efforts to restore power from Peenya proved futile.

Heavy rain uprooted over 22 trees in Jayanagar, J P Nagar, Koramangala and BTM Layout. Over 16 trees crashed in Jayanagar alone.

Traffic police in Jayanagar had a tough time clearing the fallen trees and branches. Help was sought from the fire brigade to restore normal traffic flow.

BBMP sources said trees were also uprooted on Indiranagar 10th Main, Jayanagar I Block, 7th Cross, 3 Block, Koramanagala 4th Block, Ragigudda slums, BTS bus depot Jayanagar 4 Block, near APS college Basavanagudi, near former chief minister Kumaraswamy's residence in J P Nagar. BDA flats near BTM Layout, Kumara Swamy Layout, 4th ‘T’ Block near VT School and 8the Main Koramanagala. Dozens of vehicles, including a BMTC bus, were damaged.

The Airport recorded 31. 7 mm of rain while the city reported traces of rainfall according to the Meteorological Department (MD).

Cyclonic trigger
Wind gust reached a peak of 73 km per hour at airport and in the city a peak of 58 km per hour was generated locally, said Director, MD, Muthuchami. Currently there is a severe cyclonic storm over Bay of Bengal-550 kms East-North East of Chennai, which is likely to move initially northward and thereafter towards Northeast, he said.

Wind speed around cyclonic storm will be in the range of 110-130 kms per hour. The rainfall is triggered by a cyclonic storm, he explained. There is a possibility of thunderstorm and possibility of rain and thundershowers on Wednesday.

Water supply
Water supply will be affected in the city on Wednesday due to power failure at Somanahalli central grid. Pumping of water has been stopped at Tataguni substation in Cauvery water supply stage 124. All the 18 pumps in the substation need to be restructured when power is restored and so water supplies will be affected, said Chief Engineer BWSSB, Venkataraju. Water supply will be normal on Thursday, he added.