Ranchi: Thunderstorms, rain and gusty winds in the early hours of Saturday forced the diversion of four flights from Birsa Munda Airport as aircraft could not land. All four planes — two IndiGo and two Air India Express — were diverted to Kolkata, officials said.Director of Birsa Munda Airport, Ranchi, Vinod Kumar, said IndiGo’s flight 7561 from Kolkata to Ranchi, flight 6370J from Delhi to Ranchi, Air India Express flight AXB1239 from Bangalore to Ranchi and Air India Express flight AXB1046 from Delhi to Ranchi were diverted due to prevailing weather conditions.Airport officials said operations normalised later in the day, with all four flights returning and landing in Ranchi between 11.29 am and 11.59 am.The gusty weather also impacted the city on Friday, uprooting trees at two locations — Doranda and Kanke. Two teams comprising 12 labourers and two supervisors were deployed to clear the fallen trees and prevent inconvenience to residents, particularly road blockages, assistant municipal commissioner of Ranchi Municipal Corporation’s Horticulture Department, Suraj Prakash Singh Chaudhary, told TOI on Saturday. “The blocks have been cleared now,” he said.Chaudhary also shared a helpline number for residents to report similar incidents and seek assistance: 9431104429.Meanwhile, the Met office on Saturday forecast more thunderstorms and rain across various parts of Jharkhand 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 temperatures are likely to rise from Monday. “It is expected to cause a little discomfort, but the situation will not be alarming,” Baburaj PP, director of Met Office Ranchi, 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 also, but it is too early to predict that now,” Baburaj said.In its general forecast, the Met office said a partly cloudy sky with possibility of light to moderate rain or thunderstorm is 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 C over the subsequent four days.
