Rainstorm damages power infrastructure in Nashik rural, several areas reel under 14-hr outage

Nashik: A powerful pre-monsoon rainstorm that lashed parts of Nashik rural last week caused widespread damage to power infrastructure, disrupting electricity supply to over 4,000 consumers on June 3, 5 and 6.“The combination of heavy rainfall and strong winds severely damaged infrastructure across the Igatpuri, Dindori, Ozar, Sinnar and Peth subdivisions. Hundreds of electricity poles collapsed and several kilometres of overhead lines snapped, leaving consumers without power for four to 14 hours,” Anil Zatkare, executive engineer of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MSEDCL) for Nashik rural, said.Officials said the high-velocity winds uprooted 154 high-tension and 320 low-tension poles. The storm also snapped 24km of high-tension and 55.5km of low-tension lines. Additionally, nine distribution transformer centres collapsed, while equipment at three substations was damaged, significantly disrupting the region’s power network, they said.Subdivision-wise damage showed that Peth suffered the highest loss of transmission infrastructure, with 46 high-tension poles collapsing. Dindori recorded the most severe impact on domestic distribution, with 93 low-tension poles downed and 12km of lines damaged.“Sinnar was the worst affected, with over 3,000 consumers facing power outages for more than 14 hours on two separate days,” Zatkare said. “Ground teams have been deployed in full strength and restoration work in severely affected areas like Sinnar and Dindori is being carried out on a war footing and is expected to be completed within a day or two,” he said.The officials said restoration efforts in Peth were taking longer due to the widely scattered damage. “Repair operations in Peth are facing logistical challenges as many affected installations are located in remote and hilly areas, increasing both travel time and restoration complexity,” Zatkare said.Providing relief to the residents, the official said electricity supply had been restored to all villages. “While domestic and residential connections have been fully restored across all affected talukas, the remaining outages are limited to agricultural consumers, which we are addressing in a phased manner,” Zatkare added.