Gale causes blackout in Dimapur
NATURE'S BEAUTY AND FURY: Holed up indoors for weeks, residents of Mokokchung were in for a spectacle of thunderous proportions on Wednesday evening as Mother Nature decided to play around with some fireworks lighting up a somber Doordarshan communications tower on top of "Dog Hill," as known to the locals, or officially, Forest Colony. (Photo Courtesy: Mokokchung Premier TV)
NE States ‘very likely’ to experience heavy rainfall, hailstorms at isolated places during next 5 days, forecasts IMD
Morung Express News
Dimapur | April 15
Dimapur went into major blackout mode following Wednesday afternoon's dust storm. Shutting down power supply is a standard precautionary measure during inclement weather but restoring supply after the winds subsided became troublesome as equipments took a bad hit.
According to Power department officials, restoration works were on. While stating that faults were reported from several locations, one official informed that supply from only one sub-station (Burma Camp) could be resumed.
Damages were reported at the Sovima, Diphupar A, Chekiye, Thilixu, Naharbari, Airport and Highway feeders.
It was also informed that the Metha sub-station and Industrial sub-station are completely down. Work on the latter was said to be in progress till the filing of this report.
Power supply could be restored to only 40 percent of the lines till Wednesday evening. In Chümoukedima meanwhile, officials informed that there was 80 percent blackout.
Meanwhile, colony roads being blocked off by volunteers due to the current lockdown has been a hindrance for technicians to reach the spots where lines have been damaged. Unable to reach the trouble spots, officials informed that restoration work would resume at 4:00 am Thursday morning.
Heavy rainfall, hailstorm hit other areas
Other parts of the state also witnessed the storm and rainfalls, including Mokokchung district and Kohima. There were reports of heavy hailstorms Khonoma Village and adjoining areas as well as heavy downpour in state capital Kohima.
Meanwhile, according reports, one person was killed at Longkei Village, under Mon district during the thunderstorm. He reportedly died after a tree fell down over the house due to strong wind and killing him on the spot.
When contacted, sources at NSDMA confirmed the news but informed that they are awaiting further details.
The All India Radio, Kohima also reported that Dimapur district and Ralan area in Wokha district witnessed strong windstorm and rain leading to damage of houses. Reports from other districts and subsequent damages caused are still awaited, it said.
The North East region and eastern states in India were hit by dust storm and heavy rainfall on Wednesday throwing ‘normal’ life out of gear.
The India Metrological Department’s (IMD) 'All India Weather Summary and Forecast Bulletin' issued at 5PM observed thunderstorm at isolated places over Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim, Bihar, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Uttarakhand on April 15.
The IMD attributed the same to the “convergence of strong moist winds from the Bay of Bengal.”
As a result, eastern states (especially West Bengal & Sikkim and east Bihar) and North East India are “very likely to experience fairly widespread to widespread rainfall with isolated heavy falls over Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim and Northeastern states during next 5 days,” the IMD forecasted.
Thundersqualls and hailstorms are also "very likely" over these regions during same period, it added.
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