At least seven people lost their lives and several others were injured after a powerful dust storm accompanied by heavy rainfall swept through Delhi-NCR on Wednesday evening, causing widespread destruction and chaos across the region, officials said.
In one of the incidents, a girl died in Northeast Delhi’s Dayalpur while she was standing near a house when a iron window panel fell on her from the third floor of a building due to the storm, and she got injured. Later, she was declared dead.
“She was immediately rushed to Civil Lines Trauma Centre, where she succumbed to her injuries during treatment,” a senior police officer said.
The crime team inspected the site of the incident and documented the scene, following which a case was registered against the owner of the house.
Another life was lost in south east Delhi’s Nizamuddin area, at around 7.50 pm when a high-beam electricity pole collapsed during the thunderstorm near the Lodhi Road flyover and fell onto the middle of the road, hitting the differently-abled man who was passing by on a tricycle.
“He was rushed to the Safdarjung Hospital in an ambulance but was declared dead,” the police said, adding that the identity of the man is being ascertained.
Azhar (22) also died after a tree fell on him and two motorcycles in north east Delhi’s Gokulpuri area at around 8.15 pm.
At least six people were reportedly injured after a portion of the grill of an old foot overbridge near Mukherjee Nagar collapsed. More injuries were reported from Kashmere Gate and Mangolpuri area.
After a scorching afternoon, the evening witnessed a sudden rainy dust storm which wreaked havoc across the city, throwing traffic out of gear as far as Delhi-Noida, Delhi-Ghaziabad, and Delhi-Gurugram roads and even uprooting several trees.
In Greater Noida, a 50-year-old woman and her two-year-old grandson died after a railing net from the terrace of a 21-storey building crashed onto them during the intense dust storm that swirled through Delhi-NCR on Wednesday, officials said.
According to eyewitnesses, the incident occurred at Migsun Ultimo highrise in Greater Noida’s Omicron 3 when the boy was riding a bicycle and his grandmother, identified as Sunita Devi, was watching over him.
In Ghaziabad, 40-year-old Muzammil died after a tree fell on him while he was riding a bike. Panu Devi, 38, died and four others were injured when a wall fell on them. In Mukherjee Nagar, a portion of the grill of an old overbridge fell off, injuring at least six people. A 55-year-old was injured after a balcony collapsed in the Kashmiri Gate area.
Four people, including a woman, were injured in Mangolpuri after a balcony collapsed. While many vehicles were damaged and trees uprooted, traffic was disrupted at several locations, and Metro and flight services were affected.
Also, power outages because of trees falling on electricity lines were reported across the capital. The Central Control Room received at least 54 calls regarding tree uprooting, among those 14 were from Shahdara, nine were from West district and seven from Central district. One complaint of waterlogging was received from near Dilli Haat Petrol pump, Kotla Mubarakpur Nagar, as per the officials.
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The electricity distribution network in the city also suffered “extensive” damage including overhead wires, poles and transformers, discom officials said.
The BSES discoms BRPL and BYPL suffered “widespread” damage across south, west, east, and central Delhi.
Around 60 electric poles were broken or severely damaged. And around 10 transformers or substation parts (including LT Air Circuit Breakers and transformers) sustained damage due to falling trees or debris, said a spokesperson of the discom.
Overhead cables and conductors were affected in many locations, resulting in temporary outages across multiple neighbourhoods, he said.
At many of these sites, large trees uprooted by the storm fell on electric lines, poles, and substations, obstructing roads and delaying access for emergency repair teams, he said.
A day after, around 200 high-mast flags were damaged in a massive storm that hit the national capital, public works department on Thursday said a private agency will be hired to maintain such flags installed at 500 locations.
