Power outage due to dust storm hits water supply in Delhi

, May 31: The aftereffects of the massive dust storm that hit the national capital last evening were felt by Delhiites till this morning as

supply could not be restored in many areas which caused hiccups in water supply.

As many areas remained without electricity till late morning, pumping stations could not function leading to no water supply in many areas, a Delhi Jal Board official (DJB) said. Also, operations at water treatment plants of Delhi Jal Board were affected due to power outage.

"The water processed at treatment plants was 30 per cent less compared to the normal days due to power cut," said the official. People in several areas of Delhi had a harrowing time as power supply was snapped for over 17 hours after the dust storm damaged the electricity network yesterday. There was no power in areas like Dwarka, Rohini, Jahangirpuri and s

ome parts of east and outer Delhi. Power department officials said this morning that it will take another 3-4 hours to repair the power line to restore normal electricity supply in these areas. Fire officials said they yesterday received 131 calls related to the storm. "Most of the people complained about snapped electricity lines and asked when power would be restored," said a Fire Department official.

According to police, at least six people were killed and 15 were injured in different parts of the national capital in the storm. Traffic Police said hundreds of cars and other vehicles were damaged due to falling trees, collapsing walls and other storm-related incidents. Efforts were on to fix traffic lights which went off due to faults or snapping of power cables, they said.

Municipal workers and officials of other departments, meanwhile, were trying to clear hundreds of trees which were uprooted in the storm and debris of billboards and other things blown away in the wind.

PTI