Blinding desert winds plunge Rajasthan city into sudden midday darkness
Bikaner faced an absolute blackout on Saturday afternoon when a towering wall of yellow dust swept across the region, turning bright daylight into near-total darkness within minutes. Fierce winds disrupted everyday life, forcing merchants to lock up shops and drivers to pull off roads as visibility suddenly dropped to zero.
Urban Chaos and Outages
Terrified residents watched a colossal wall of sand roll over residential sectors, casting an eerie amber glow over the cityscape. Gusts snapped tree branches and brought down local power lines, leaving several neighborhoods without electricity. Pedestrians scrambled for shelter as the gale-force winds sent debris flying across public markets. Historically, pre-monsoon dust storms locally known as Andhi are common in this region bordering the Thar Desert during May and June, though the sheer vertical height and speed of this specific system stunned local weather observers.
Severe Weather Warnings Issued
Meteorological Centre Jaipur reported that this violent squall forms part of a larger convective system currently shifting across western India. Experts clocked wind speeds between 60 and 70 kmph during the peak of the disturbance. Weather monitors also recorded isolated heavy downpours across neighboring districts, including 58 mm of rainfall in the Bari area of Dholpur.
Officials have advised the public to pause all non-essential highway travel. Forecasts indicate that this pattern of intense afternoon thunderstorms, potential hailstorms, and lightning strikes will persist across the Bikaner, Ajmer, and Jodhpur divisions for the next four to five days.
Image Courtesy: NDTV
