Heavy rain lashes Patna district, causes widespread disruption

Patna: Heavy rain accompanied by thunderstorms and gusty winds lashed Patna and several districts of Bihar on Monday, easing humid conditions but caused traffic snarls, waterlogging, and damage to infrastructure at several places. Rain was recorded in 16 districts, including Patna, where the sky turned dark in the afternoon.Strong winds uprooted trees, snapped power lines at many places and even pillar cladding (tiles) fell at the arrival areas of Patna airport. However, no causality was reported.Commuters and pedestrians in the city were caught unaware after several vehicles got stuck. Waterlogging was also witnessed in various pockets and low-lying localities.Sanitation workers and field officers, including ward members, visited their respective areas to resolve the waterlogging issues. “All drainage pumping stations at 38 sump houses in the city are running to drain out the accumulated water from different localities. The officers have been asked to monitor the situation and act accordingly on the complaints,” Sweta Bhasker, public relations officer of Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (BUIDCO), said.Patna Mayor Sita Sahu said the officers and sanitation workers are monitoring the situation and using the additional drainage pumping sets, wherever it is required.The India Meteorological Department issued red alerts for several districts, warning of thunderstorms, lightning, squalls with winds reaching up to 60 kmph on Monday. Meteorologists attribute the unstable weather to atmospheric disturbances and moisture incursion. Forecasts suggest that such thunderstorm activity with intermittent rain may persist for the next few days before the system weakens.In the bulletin, the weathermen forecast that gusty winds (40-60 kmph) with thunderstorms and lightning are likely at isolated places in different parts of the state during the next 24 hours. “On May 6, heavy rainfall along with gusty winds (50-60 kmph) and thunderstorms are expected in districts including Araria, Katihar, Kishanganj and Purnea, besides south-central and south-east parts of Bihar. Similar thunderstorm activity with gusty winds is forecast till May 9,” Deepankar Singh, duty officer at Patna Met office, said.He added: “Maximum temperatures are likely to remain nearly unchanged in the next 24 hours, followed by a fall of 3-4 degrees Celsius. Minimum temperatures may drop by 2-3 degrees initially before rising gradually in the next 2-3 days.”Patna recorded 39 mm rainfall till evening on Monday, while the maximum temperature was recorded at 33.2 degrees C and the minimum temperature was 24.7 degrees C.Notable rainfall (in mm) included Kanti 33.4, Marwan 30.2, Katihar 25, Lalganj 22.2 and several other stations recording between 15-20 mm. The highest maximum temperature was recorded at Bhabhua with 36.6 degrees C, with state temperatures ranging between 26 and 36 degrees C. A drop of 3-4 degrees was noted in north-western parts. The lowest minimum temperature was 21.4 degrees C in Valmiki Nagar (West Champaran).