Patiala Doppler radar defunct following snag

Patiala, June 1

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The Doppler weather radar at the Patiala centre of the Indian Meteorological Department has been down for the past three days. Heavy rain and high-velocity winds on Sunday and Monday lashed the region, toppling over a number of trees and electricity poles.

Doppler radars are remote sensing instruments used to determine the structure of storms and help predict their severity. A senior official on Tuesday shared information regarding expected strong winds and intense rain in the Chandigarh region along with Rupnagar, Ludhiana, Hoshiarpur, Amritsar, Pathankot and Gurdaspur.

Protesters’ tents uprooted in Sangrur

Sangrur: The storm on Monday night uprooted tents of protesting ETT and TET teachers and farmers while the PSPCL also suffered huge losses here. Later, the protesters again pegged their tents at the spot. Sources in the PSPCL said the storm affected 950 electricity poles and damaged 55 transformers in Sangrur, Sunam, Khanauri, Lehra and other areas. “In total, the storm caused Rs 1-crore damage to the PSPCL. We have restored electricity to 90 per cent areas,” said RK Mittal, Superintendent Engineer, PSPCL, Sangrur. TNS

Met officials said a technical fault was identified at 4 am on Saturday. “We have been trying to fix it. This can take a few days as the spare parts are delivered from outside the district,” Amit Kumar, head, Doppler weather radar (DWR), Patiala said. He added the radar provided information about the motion, intensity and height of hydrometeors in a 300-km range. The IMD has forecast a spell or two of rain or thundershowers on Wednesday. — TNS