JOIN USSquall throws city off gear
“The winds were so strong that at one point we feared that the train could get derailed,” said Veenu Gopal at Sultanpur Metro station.
The Metrological Department said it was the first time that the a storm of this magnitude, with a speed of 92 km per hour, had hit the city for as long as five minutes.
“Particles swirling in the air even hit the train while it was on the move on the elevated corridor. We could hear loud sounds inside the coach,” the Metro passenger.Another passenger said that the train stopped at Qutab Minar station.
“Announcements were made after 10-15 minutes that there was some technical glitches due to which the train would not move any time soon,” said Ritu Vats, waiting for a metro train at Saket station.
“There was an announcement that it could even take an hour for normal services to resume. We were told that we may deboard if we have to go to nearby areas and that the entire ticket amount would be refunded,” she added.
Some commuters said the gates of Malviya Nagar Metro station were kept closed after the storm. “We had to wait for 30 minutes before we were allowed to enter,” said Tarun Kumar, who was heading to Huda City Centre.
According to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, Metro services were disrupted for an hour on Friday between 5 pm and 6 pm.
“Due to failure of power supply from Delhi Transco Ltd to Metro network, the services were hit across stations,” DMRC said in a statement.
“At a few locations near Janakpuri and Inderlok, some foreign material like tin sheet or pipe got entangled with the overhead equipment wires due to the hailstorm. It made train movement impossible,” the DMRC added.
The DMRC said that normal services resumed across the network 6 pm onwards. “Only after resumption of normal power supply from DTL and clearance of all foreign material from the overhead equipment wire by DMRC engineers, the services started,” the DMRC said.
Traffic snarls
There were traffic snarls as the dust storm uprooted trees. “It took me an hour to reach Mayur Vihar Phase-1 from Laxmi Nagar as the traffic was moving at a snail’s pace,” said Kartik, who usually takes the Metro.
The control room of North Delhi Municipal Corporation received nine complaints of fallen tree on Friday.
“Three complaints each were received from Civil Lines and City Zone areas while two complaints from Rohini Zone and one from Narela Zone,” the North Corporation said in a statement.
The East Delhi Municipal Corporation received 20 such complaints. “Six complaints were received from Shahdara (North) Zone area and the remaining 14 complaints were from Shahdara (South) Zone. The control room also received two complaints of water logging,” it added.