Large parts of Ludhiana remained without electricity for up to 12 hours after overnight thunderstorms and gusty winds crippled the city’s power distribution network, disrupting water supply and throwing normal life out of gear across several localities. As repair crews worked through Thursday to restore supply, the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) was inundated with 21,798 consumer complaints, with many residents reporting prolonged outages, unresponsive helplines and delayed fault rectification.A lineman restoring electricity in Ludhiana on Thursday. (Gurpreet Singh/HT)According to PSPCL officials, the thunderstorm, which swept across the city between 11 pm and 11.30 pm on Wednesday, snapped conductors, damaged distribution lines and knocked nearly 100 feeders in the Central Zone out of service. By around 6 am on Thursday, nearly 85 feeders remained affected before electricity was restored in phases through the day.Model Town, BRS Nagar, Rajguru Nagar, Phullanwal Road and several adjoining localities bore the brunt of the disruption. While supply was restored in many areas by Thursday morning, several pockets continued to remain without electricity until the afternoon, with outages stretching to nearly 12 hours in some neighbourhoods, they added.The prolonged disruption left residents struggling through a humid night without electricity, while the accompanying loss of water supply, as electric motors remained non-functional, compounded their ordeal. Consumers also complained of being unable to register faults as PSPCL’s grievance redressal mechanism came under severe pressure following the sudden spike in complaints. “We had no electricity through the night and the children could not sleep because of the heat. Our overhead water tank could not be refilled as the motor remained shut, and by morning even our phones had run out of charge,” said Atul Mongia, a resident of Phullanwal Road.Shweta Singh, a resident of BRS Nagar, said the delay in restoring supply caused greater hardship than the outage itself. “The storm may have caused the faults, but people expect quicker restoration. We kept trying to register complaints, but there was hardly any response. Without electricity, there was no water supply either,” she said.The unprecedented surge in complaints also strained PSPCL’s complaint redressal system. Officials said complaint handling had been affected by the ongoing strike of outsourced National Complaint Centre (NCC) employees, forcing the utility to monitor complaints through internal WhatsApp groups and prioritise areas witnessing the highest number of outages. The shortage of complaint-handling staff further delayed fault identification and restoration in several localities.Chief engineer (Central Zone) Jagdev Singh Hans said all available field teams were deployed immediately after the storm to restore supply on priority. “The thunderstorm caused extensive disruption across the Central Zone, with nearly 100 feeders affected during the night. By around 11 am, supply had been restored to almost all affected feeders after continuous repair work. Areas with dense tree cover, including Rajguru Nagar and BRS Nagar, witnessed comparatively greater damage as tree branches snapped electricity lines. Our teams remained in the field throughout the night and morning to restore normal supply at the earliest,” Hans said.Executive engineer (Model Town Division) Tarsem Singh said restoration took longer in some areas because teams first had to trace damaged sections before repair work could begin.“The supply has not been restored in some pockets because our teams are still tracing the exact location of faults. The thunderstorm caused multiple disruptions simultaneously, and restoration can begin only after the damaged section is identified. Our staff has been working continuously since last night,” he said.Power officials maintained that despite manpower constraints, all available field crews remained engaged throughout the night and Thursday to restore supply across the affected areas.Yellow alert extended as IMD forecasts wet spell till July 6Ludhiana remained under a yellow alert on Thursday after the India Meteorological Department (IMD) extended its weather warning till July 6, forecasting thunderstorms, lightning, gusty winds and intermittent rainfall over the next four days. While light rain is likely at isolated places on July 3 and 4, the weather department has forecast more widespread rainfall across the district on July 5 and 6. The district received 8.6 mm of rainfall in the past 24 hours, taking the total rainfall between June 26 and July 2 to 49.3 mm.The fresh spell of rain also brought respite from the prolonged heat that gripped the region last month. The maximum temperature settled at 33.2 degrees Celsius on Thursday, 1.2 degrees higher than the previous day but still 1.9 degrees below the seasonal normal.The district also recorded gusty winds of up to 39 kmph during the past 24 hours.The IMD has cautioned that thunderstorms accompanied by lightning and winds of similar intensity are likely to persist over the coming days, particularly during periods of rainfall, and has advised residents to remain alert while venturing outdoors.