Chandigarh, August 11
The best day of the monsoon season wreaked havoc across the city and nearby areas as lightning struck at several places, leaving behind a trail of destruction.
Although from the weatherman’s point of view the day was welcome as it brought 38 mm rainfall in a single day - the highest on any given day in July - thunder and lightning ensured that the good news was accompanied with bad.
In Sectors 12, 15, 16 and 38, where lightning struck around 5.15 pm, electronic goods worth lakhs were damaged. Such was the impact of lightning that in several houses in Sector 15 regulators of fans flipped onto floors, detached as they got from their base.
Among the goods that were damaged were air-conditioners, televisions, BSNL modems, computers and computer printers.
Losses, however, could not be estimated precisely, although some residents called up The Tribune office to list the damages.
Arvind Sharma, a senior resident with the department of neurology, PGI, and resident of Sector 15-A, returned home from work this evening to find that his electronic goods were damaged soon after the lightning.
“My TV was not working, my charger which was in stand-by mode burnt, so had the computer printer which was, incidentally, switched off. Even the refrigerator’s stabiliser was gone,” he said.
At least 40 houses in Sharma’s vicinity reported similar kind of damages. Electricity complaint booths of Sector 15 and other sectors close by, however, did not get any complaints as power breakdowns did not happen.
Sharma said: “Power supply in the house was fine only the gadgets were gone.”
Weather-wise the day brought good news as the rain deficit of the city reduced. By tonight, Chandigarh had received 373.4 mm of rainfall - about 184.7 mm short of the normal rainfall. The weather office said last year until August 11, the city received only 349.2 mm rainfall. The monsoon had later caught up and by the end of the season the city had 541.5 mm rain - just a little below normal rainfall for monsoon season which is 558.1 mm.