Nagpur: The lush green trees in Nagpur which stood tall and deeply rooted for years appear to have been losing the grounds. Huge trees, which were thought to have lived for generations are falling off, thanks to the massive scale of concretization choking the water seeping through its roots. The heavy winds prevailing in Nagpur in the evening time for the past couple of days have resulted in many trees, some are huge enough and many decades old, come crashing without any warning. Over a dozen of trees have met similar end in the past one week.
On Monday as well, seven trees were uprooted at different places. Few of the trees fell on the road bringing traffic to a standstill. This apart, the falling trees are also posing serious threat before commuters. Trees have become additionally weak in the wake of recent developments including the dubious cement road project.
On Monday, the city traffic was severely affected as several trees were uprooted by a strong gust of wind and led to long traffic snarls on major arterial roads. Trees fell in Narendra Nagar, Chhatraparti Nagar area and in Ambazari layout.
Power supply affected
Even the power supply played spoilsport in many areas. Both MSEDCL and SNDL started fixing fixing faults to restore the supply. No injuries or casualties were reported till late evening. Soon after the thunderstorms, NMC’s fire department and garden department deployed teams to clear the uprooted trees from roads. Normal traffic was restored by 9 pm.
“All uprooted trees have been cleared. There was no report of any injury or casualty,” said fire officials. India Metrological Department (IMD) senior official said these were pre-monsoon showers. “Several districts of the Vidarbha region, including Nagpur, will experience similar weather for the next few days with thunderstorm and gusty winds (30-40 kmph) at isolated places,” the official added. Even though the wind was strong, power supply was not disrupted in too many areas.
Trees crash landing on power lines
Chhatrapati Nagar area was plunged into darkness when a branch of a tree landed on power lines. SNDL officials said that there was a breakdown in Narendra Nagar area when another tree crashed on overhead power cables. It took over an hour to restore supply. Shahu Nagar also went without power for around 40 minutes.
