Thundershowers, accompanied by lightning, lashed several parts of Jharkhand, including Ranchi and Jamshedpur in the wee hours of Wednesday, due to the impact of a low-pressure system.

Jamshedpur and its adjoining areas experienced heavy rain coupled with lightning and strong winds blowing at speeds of over 40 kmph. It started to rain at 3 am and continued for two hours, uprooting trees at several places in Jamshedpur and other parts of Kolhan.

The uprooted tree near the district collectorate at Sakchi, Jamshedpur, on Wednesday Bhola Prasad

The boundary wall of Shavak Nanavati Technical Institute (SNTI) at Bistupur collapsed. However, no one was injured.

The IMD observatory at Sonari in Jamshedpur recorded heavy rainfall of 88.5 mm. Arki in Khunti district recorded the highest rainfall of 94.5 mm. Simdega in southern Jharkhand recorded 82mm rain while Chakradharpur in West Singhbhum recorded over 60 mm rain.

Reports of uprooting of trees and tweaking of tree branches due to the thunderstorm and heavy showers have come in from various parts of Kolhan.

Commuters caught in the rains at Sakchi, Jamshedpur, on Wednesday Bhola Prasad

Chaibasa in West Singhbhum and Chandil in Seraikela-Kharsawan, too, recorded heavy showers of over 50mm.

Ranchi and its adjoining areas like Hindgiri and Mandar recorded around 20 mm rain. There were reports of moderate rain in Ramgarh, Bokaro, Pakur, Dhanbad and Daltonganj.

The boundary wall of SNTI which collapsed at Bistupur , Jamshedpur, on Wednesday Bhola Prasad

Director of Ranchi Meteorological Centre S.D. Kotal said southwest monsoon was active over Jharkhand during the past 24 hours. "Today's thunderstorm and heavy rain in the wee hours was due to the impact of the well-marked low- pressure zone over north-west Bay of Bengal and Gangetic Bengal. The highest rainfall of over 90 mm was reported from Arki in Khunti district. Ranchi and several other places experienced rains in the wee hours," he said.

Kotal said that heavy rain was expected to continue in isolated pockets of southern and western Jharkhand during the next 24 hours as the monsoon trough was passing through Jamshedpur.

The forecast issued by the Ranchi Met Centre on Wednesday afternoon indicated severe lightning and thunder at a few places over Jharkhand for two days on August 29 and August 30.

The swollen Kharkai river at Adityapur near Jamshedpur on Wednesday

Statistics revealed that the rain deficit witnessed a drop of two per cent from Tuesday’s nine to seven per cent, due to a good shower show in the past 24 hours

According to Met data, Jharkhand has received rainfall of 722.2 mm against a normal of 778.4 mm, a deficit of 7 per cent. Weathermen said the deficit figure would witness a further drop in the next 48 hours of rain.