The strong gales and rain, which lashed the city on Saturday evening, brought down the mercury levels and provided the much-needed respite from the summer heat. The gales, however, resulted in the uprooting of trees, breaking of branches and falling of electrical poles at some places in the city.
“The rain resulted in disruption of power supply at many places, but it was restored after a few hours at most of the places and in a few areas by noon on Sunday. There was no damage to transformers,” according to an AP EPDCL source. Advertisement hoardings were ripped off by the winds at some places.
Visakhapatnam city received 5 cm of rain but Visakhapatnam Airport recorded only 2.8 cm. Kurupam and Srungavarapukota, both in Vizianagaram district, also received 5 cm or rain each
The maximum temperature in the city dropped to 33.4° C and at Visakhapatnam Airport to 33.8° C on April 4. and the minimum temperatures dropped to 21° C and 22.2° C respectively.
Tirupati recorded the highest temperature of 42° Celsius.
“There is nothing unusual about the thunderstorm activity on Saturday evening. The severe thunderstorm had formed above the forests of Paderu and Araku around 4 p.m. and moved over towards Visakhapatnam city. The think cloud and the strong squall with gales, were observed through the radar. It’s purely a local phenomena,” P.V. Rama Rao, a former Director of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), told The Hindu .
Meanwhile, the IMD bulletin has forecast that thunderstorm with gusty winds, with speed up to 30 to 40 km/hr, is very likely to occur at isolated places over north coastal A.P. and Yanam on April 5. The maximum temperatures are likely to be above normal by 2° to 3° Celsius over south coastal A.P. and Rayalaseema. The weather would mainly be dry over Rayalaseema on April 5.
After the heavy rain and gale on Saturday night, drain water overflowed onto the roads in many areas in the city, including One Town, MVP Colony, HB Colony and Daba Gardens, making it difficult to move on road for pedestrians and motorists.
There were incidents of wall collapse at Gopalapatnam, Chinna Waltair, Duvvada and Dabagardens. People residing on hillocks were in a state of fear for almost two hours due to gale and also spent a sleepless night.
A number of trees and their branches fell on roads in many areas disrupting traffic in the city. GVMC took up restoration work early in the morning.
However, a number of areas are yet to be cleared of the mess.
