Several parts of Gurugram witnessed a six-hour-long power cut after Sunday evening's thunderstorms. Power was restored in the wee hours of Monday.
The maximum temperature recorded on Sunday was 35.2°C, while the minimum was recorded at 19.9°C.
“The city is expected to receive more rain on Monday. The sudden change is because of the movement of western disturbance winds towards Rajasthan,” said an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
People spent the night in the dark after the thunderstorm around 4 pm. Power supply was restored in some parts only after 5 am the next day.
The developing sectors were the worst hit due to the storm. Power supply was affected in DLF City Phases I, II and III, Palam Vihar, sectors 56 to 71, and Sector 15.
“Waterlogging was the biggest problem in our sector after the rainfall, and we were cleaning the pits as soon as the rain started,” said Ramesh Vashist, RWA president of Sector 15.
Residents of the DLF areas and the Huda sectors alleged a spike in the number of power cuts over the past three days.
Residents, despite several attempts, could not get through to Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) officials.
“The department should ensure they deploy staff on night shifts," said Rajkumar Yadav, RWA president of Sector 46. "DHBVN doesn’t have any mechanism to help residents who call them at night. Its staff doesn’t even take calls when required and residents have no clarity on what the issue is.”
“We have enough electricity to power the entire city. But line loss is a major challenge. We are trying to improve the system by controlling this,” said Naveen Kumar Verma, superintendent engineer, DHVBN.
This year, the heat wave has appeared much earlier than expected, confirmed IMD officials. They also predicted that it will only intensify in the next few weeks.
“The maximum temperature has dropped by 5 degrees in the past two days. However, the city will get harsh weather in the coming days. The slight rain has provided relief, though,” said an IMD official.
