Meerut, June 12 -- A powerful storm accompanied by heavy rain battered Bareilly on Wednesday night, disrupting electricity supply and causing widespread damage to power infrastructure across the district. Nearly half the city remained without electricity throughout the night as strong winds brought down power lines, damaged substations, and uprooted hundreds of trees. According to officials, eight electricity substations were completely knocked out by the storm, while around 125 power poles were damaged. The situation was further aggravated as nearly 150 trees and large branches fell onto transmission lines, disrupting supply in several parts of the city and adjoining rural areas. As of Thursday afternoon, electricity had not been fully restored in many affected localities. The disruption also triggered water shortages in several neighbourhoods on Thursday morning. Major residential areas including Rajendra Nagar, Izzatnagar, Suncity, Mahanagar, and Ramganga Nagar continued to face electricity disruptions until at least 9 am on Thursday. In addition, consumers connected to nearly 50 feeders suffered outages due to multiple local faults caused by the storm. Om Prakash Gupta, executive engineer (11 kV Vertical), said that crews were engaged in repairing damaged lines and equipment on a war footing. The storm also caused significant localised damage. Near Langda Bagh Wali Pakariya, a transformer collapsed along with a power structure, while two electricity poles snapped. Another pole near the Circuit House was left dangerously tilted due to the strong winds. Similar incidents were reported from different parts of the city. District-wide, hundreds of trees were uprooted or damaged, highlighting the intensity of the weather event. The fallen trees not only disrupted traffic movement but also complicated restoration efforts by obstructing access to damaged power lines. The chief engineer of the Bareilly Zone said restoration work was progressing continuously and appealed to consumers to remain patient. He urged residents to avoid calling repeatedly, noting that field personnel were fully occupied with emergency repair operations. Authorities expect restoration efforts to continue until all damaged infrastructure is repaired and electricity supply is normalized across the district....