HUBBALLI: One person died, two were injured and more than 70 trees fell following gusty wind and rain in Hubballi on Wednesday evening. Many roads in the city witness traffic jams and it took several hours to clear the broken trees on the road.
On Wednesday evening, mild rains with heavy wind hit the city. Robin Marosh, a painter was returning to his house at Sonia Gandhi Nagar from Keshwapur after his work in an autorickshaw. Following gusty wind, a tree fell on an auto-rickshaw in which he was travelling at Desai circle. He sustained severe injuries.
Locals shifted him to KIMS hospital where he died. He was survived by a wife and two children. In the incident others, who were travelling with the deceased, also suffered injuries and took treatment at KIMS hospital.
In the Ganeshpet area tree branch fell on a car, which suffered damage, and the road was blocked for more than an hour. Trees at KIMS premises,Vidyanagar, Deshpande Nagar, Devangpet, Nekar Nagar, Old Hubballi, Bhavani Nagar, Mayuri estate, Keshwapur, Gokul road, Lingaraj Nagar and other areas fell and were damaged two-wheelers, auto-rickshaw, carts and many others.
Two houses were partially damaged after trees fell on them and more than 10 electric poles were uprooted and several electric cables were damaged in the city. Soon after the series of incidents, HDMC, firefighters, forest sleuths, HESCOM staff, and police were deployed to clear trees, damaged vehicles and electric poles. The power supply was interrupted and restored after fixing the issue.