Squall wreaks havoc in Jalandhar, leaves commuters injured, vehicles damaged

The squall that lashed the city on Saturday evening wreaked havoc here. While several vehicles got damaged, many commuters got seriously injured too.

Gusty windstorm accompanied by rain showers that started around 6.45 pm caused a lot of devastation in the city. A high-mast pole that bears the Tricolour at Company Bagh Chowk fell upon a taxi, bike and left a few pedestrians injured. The roof and windshield of the taxi got smashed. A pedestrian suffered head and leg injury and had to be immediately rescued and was sent to a hospital for treatment.

Iron shuttering from the rooftop of an under-construction showroom at Namdev Chowk also fell on cars parked outside. While upper floors of the showroom are still under construction, the ground floor and the first floor have been given by the owner on rent to Zudio, a retail clothing outlet, in violation of the building norms. The negligence of the owner came down heavily on customers, who had parked their vehicles outside showroom. The iron shuttering damaged at least four cars and five two-wheelers.

Several trees also fell on Cool Road creating problems in vehicular movement. According to the Meteorological Department, the wind speed was 80 km per hour. The storm slowed down after an hour, but drizzling continued and brought down temperature in the city.

Jalandhar