Rain continues to pour misery, normal life hit hard

Rain continued to pour misery as normal life was hit hard after Chandigarh received another light to moderate spell for the third consecutive day during the past 24 hours.

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Even as the residents were yet to come out of the mayhem caused by the region’s heaviest rainfall 119.5 mm and 70.7 mm downpour during the past two days, the city was lashed by another spell of 31 mm rain coupled with thunderstorm and lightning till 5.30 pm on Tuesday.

Having received 213 mm rainfall during the past month, which was highest in the past decade and was 37% more than the normal precipitation in June, Chandigarh entered July with 31 mm rainfall on the month’s very first day.

The heaviest monsoon rainfall of 221.2 mm during the past three days brought much relief from the hot weather conditions but left major parts of the tricity inundated with roads continuing to cave in, trees and poles getting uprooted at several locations, damaging the public property, and major disruption in power and water supply, badly throwing the normal life out of gear for the third day in a row.

The hollow claims of the monsoon preparedness by the civic authorities were washed away with the onset of the rainy season itself as the residents continued to fend for themselves in the waterlogged roads and streets.

People once again experienced long power outages besides voltage fluctuations and frequent tripping in major parts of the tricity on Tuesday.

The electricity officials gave the standard reply that the major disruption was caused by breakdowns due to rain and thunderstorms.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a yellow alert for thunderstorms and lightning at isolated places in Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana on Wednesday, heavy rain in Chandigarh and Punjab on Thursday, and heavy to very heavy rain in Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana from Saturday to Monday.

Meanwhile, Chandigarh recorded a maximum of 29.9 and minimum 24.8 degrees Celsius on Tuesday.

The weathermen have predicted a generally and partly cloudy sky with thunderstorms and rain in the tricity for the next five days till July 6.