4 flights diverted from city over inclement weather; land later

Ranchi: Thunderstorm, rain and gusty winds early on Saturday forced the diversion of four flights from Birsa Munda Airport in the city with the aircraft unable to land. All four planes — two of IndiGo and two of Air India Express — were diverted to Kolkata, officials said.

Airport director Vinod Kumar said the IndiGo flights from Kolkata and Delhi to Ranchi, as well as Air India Express flights from Bangalore and Delhi to Ranchi were diverted due to prevailing inclement weather.

Airport officials said operations normalised later in the day, with all four flights returning and landing in the city between 11:29 am and 11:59 am.

Gusty winds also uprooted trees at two locations — Doranda and Kanke — on Saturday. Two teams comprising, 12 labourers and 2 supervisors, were deployed to clear the fallen trees and prevent inconvenience to residents, particularly road block, assistant municipal commissioner of Ranchi Municipal Corporation’s horticulture department, Suraj Prakash Singh Chaudhary, told TOI on Saturday. “The roads have been cleared,” he said.

Chaudhary also shared a helpline number (9431104429) for residents to report similar incidents and seek assistance.

The Met office on Saturday forecast more thunderstorms and rain across various parts of the state over the next two days and issued orange and yellow alerts for thunderstorms/lightning and gusty winds of 40-50 kmph at isolated places.

Officials said that maximum temperature is likely to rise from Monday. “It is expected to cause a little discomfort, but the situation will not be alarming,” Baburaj PP, director of the Ranchi Met office, said, adding that chances of another heatwave are low as the monsoon approaches.

“We are expecting the southwest monsoon to hit Kerala by the first week of June. The general date of arrival of monsoon in Jharkhand is between June 13 and 15. It may arrive on time, but it is too early to predict the date now,” he said.

The Met office said partly cloudy skies with possibility of light to moderate rain or thunderstorm are likely at a few places over the state. It added there will be no large change in maximum temperature during the next 24 hours, followed by a gradual rise of 3-5 degrees Celsius over the next four days.