Wind & thunderstorm bring down 150 trees in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: The city has lost over 150 trees to thunderstorm and fierce gales over two consecutive days (Tuesday and Wednesday). Also, over 200 branches snapped across Bengaluru in the same period.

On Tuesday evening, wind speed touched 40-50kmph, while the next day it soared to 60-75kmph. BBMP control rooms received about 1,125 distress calls over the two days, with most complaints pertaining to uprooted trees and broken branches.

“Most calls were about trees falling on vehicles, roads and on electricity lines,” said a senior Palike official.

A senior officer from BBMP’s forest cell said they had already earmarked over 200 old/dead trees for felling, but the lockdown derailed their plans. “The plan was to chop these trees this summer but post-lockdown, most of our labourers have gone home, leaving us with little manpower to execute the work. This is causing trouble,” the forest cell official admitted.

Most tree-cutters deployed for BBMP works are from Gadag and Bidar districts. “These workers are skilled when it comes to cutting trees. They can bring down a 60-foot-tall tree in an hour, but now we are in trouble as they aren’t around,” he added.

Vijay Nishant, tree expert, said most of the trees which came crashing down belong to three species — copperpod, gulmohar and silver oak. Copperpods are generally the first casualty when wind attains moderate to heavy speeds.

Nishant thinks the tree-planting pattern in the city needs to change. “We need to plant trees that can sustain strong wind and heavy showers,” he said.