Flooding, fallen trees, traffic snarls follow Monday’s storm

PUNE: The city, since the start of the month, has recorded around 372 tree falling incidents, said the fire brigade officials.
Intense flooding in various parts of the city has added to vehicular traffic congestion and chaos on the streets.
On Monday, the Camp, Wanowrie and Hadapsar areas witnessed gusty winds and rain, resulting in over 70 complaints of trees falling in a day from these three neighbourhoods alone.
An official from the Pune fire brigade said the maximum number of cases of tree fall were where branches were not trimmed.
Wanowrie resident Trisha Roy, who was stuck in traffic at the Fatimanagar main road crossing, said, “It usually takes me 30 minutes to reach home but on Monday it took me over two hours to cover a distance of 10km. The traffic was uncontrolled, there was waterlogging, multiple tree branches had fallen along the road, and wires were dangerously hanging on the road. It was utter chaos,” Roy told TOI.
Many areas also faced power cuts for long hours. In some pockets of Sopan Baug, Wanowrie, Kalyaninagar, Baner and Pashan, power resumed only early Tuesday morning.
Considering the waterlogging in Wanowrie and at Fatimanagar junction, vehicular traffic was diverted via Sopan Baug to reach Hadapsar and beyond.
Convenor of Sopan Baug Residents Association, Sachin Khandelwal, said, “The internal Sopan Baug roads were completely packed till 10.45pm. The area didn't have power supply since 5.15pm."
More than 30 housing societies are located in the area, and the traffic diversion turned out to be a nightmare for the residents, he said.
In Wanowrie, tree falling incidents were reported on all major roads.
Nilesh Mahajan, fire brigade spokesperson, told TOI, “The rain weakened many tree roots, which caused them to fall. On Monday, a large tree near Empress Garden fell on a car and destroyed the car with a man inside it. He, however, was rescued by the fire brigade. The man sustained injuries to his arm and leg. We took him to Sassoon General Hospital for further treatment.”
Mahajan said, “Falling of trees has caused traffic jams and congestion in several areas. In some neighbourhoods, it has even damaged cars and houses. Many incidents have been of big branches falling, which should have been trimmed during pre-monsoon works.”