Bhubaneswar, May 31: Frequent power cuts amid scorching summer temperatures confined most residents indoors as the mercury touched 41.9°C here today.
Despite yesterday afternoon's thunderstorm induced rain, the sparse rainfall only added to the hot and sultry conditions today.
Several areas such as Ashok Nagar, Nayapalli, Unit-VI, Rasulgarh and Baramunda witnessed power cuts for several hours from Tuesday evening. "The weather was unbearable from 11am this morning and it was almost impossible to go out on the streets. The residents who opted to stay in their house also suffered equally with the frequent power cuts," said Aditya Behera, a resident of Rasulgarh.
"The situation has been worsened by frequent power cuts in the past few days. Most of us are not able to sleep properly with power cuts lasting around 10 to 15 minutes in the night. The state government had promised uninterrupted power supply this summer, but the reality is completely different. If this is the situation of the state capital, one can only imagine the hardship of people in rural areas," said Ananya Moharana, a homemaker.
Officials of Central Electricity Supply Utility (Cesu) attributed the problem to yesterday afternoon's thunderstorm.
"Many electrical lines were snapped because of the thunderstorm and our men had to work after midnight to restore electricity. All the damaged electrical lines have been repaired and power supply has been restored," said senior general manager of Cesu's Bhubaneswar Electrical Circle, S.K. Swain.
Swain also said that power cuts of shorter duration were because of the warming up of transformer oil. "The high temperature has led to heating of the oil, which leads to tripping. There is no shortage of power," he said.
Yesterday, Bhubaneswar received 23.2mm rainfall, but the distribution was unequal. While areas such as Old Town, Rajmahal and Ashok Nagar were waterlogged, residents of Rasulgarh, Vani Vihar, Palasuni and Laxmisagar had to be content with a few minutes of sparse rainfall. Residents of Ashok Nagar and Satabdi Nagar near Baramunda were the worst affected as the storm uprooted many trees leading to disruption of power supply for several hours.
Heatwave condition continued to prevail in several parts of the state with as many as 10 places recording temperatures of 40°C and above. Angul was the hottest place with 44.1°C followed by Titilagarh and Bhawanipatna, which recorded a maximum temperature of 42.5 and 42°C, respectively.
