Women cover themselves in shawls following the nip in the air triggered by Saturday’s rain in Patna. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, Feb. 16: Intermittent rain since midnight left residents in some western parts of the city powerless for nearly 12 hours.

A change in the weather because of western disturbances originating in Afghanistan led to technical snags in the 33KV Patliputra-Digha feeder as well as the 11KV feeders of Boring Canal Road, Rajapul, Digha and others. The capital received 19.1mm of rain since midnight. As a result, power snapped in areas, including Boring Canal Road, Anandpuri, Rajapul, Alpana Market, Nehru Nagar, parts of Digha and Patliputra, SK Puri and SK Nagar at midnight.

Patna Electric Supply Undertaking (Pesu) officials claimed the technical snag was corrected by this afternoon. “We restored power supply today in all the affected areas by 1pm. Power supply was restored in Rajapul and Digha in the night itself,” said Dilip Kumar Singh, the Pesu (west) superintending engineer.

Pesu general manager-cum-chief engineer Vijay Kumar said rain, especially after a long interval, often causes problems in the city’s power distribution system. He added: “Incessant rain often punctures insulators leading to disturbances in supply”

Alok Kumar Singh of West Boring Canal Road said: “The power went off around midnight. The water tank also went dry, as we could not operate the pump. Power was restored around 1pm today only to be disrupted after an hour. It was restored in the evening.”

Rajapul resident Ranjit Sinha said: “This has exposed the power company’s failure to ensure supply even after a few spells of rain.”

The change in the weather shook the residents as most of them had packed away their woollens. The maximum temperature dropped eight notches (from normal) to 19.3°C while the minimum stood at 14.9°C, three degrees above normal.

The weathermen said tomorrow would be cloudy with possibilities of rain and thundershowers and day cold conditions will prevail on Monday. “Strong western disturbances, which originated in Afghanistan and reached Bihar and Bengal, and moisture generated from easterly winds from the Bay of Bengal led to the rain. It would be over by tomorrow,” said Ashish Sen, director, India Meteorological Department, Patna.