Tornado strikes Assam, experts call it ‘very rare’

The tornado started from the banks of the Brahmaputra river, which flows close to Rowmari village, and remained restricted to a small area, Assam’s Barpeta deputy commissioner Tej Prasad Bhushal said.

In a rare occurrence, a tornado was seen in Barpeta district of Assam on Saturday morning. No deaths or injuries were reported, officials said.

IMD official said they did not have the precise details about the Barpeta tornado because there was no weather observatory at the location.   (Screengrab)

Videos of the tornado shot by local residents on mobile phones, which went viral, showed a plume of dust rising up many metres from the ground, swirling dangerously.

“The tornado was of very low intensity. It took place at Rowmari village in Chenga area of the district at 10:20am and lasted for a few minutes,” Barpeta deputy commissioner Tej Prasad Bhushal said. “Seven huts were damaged in the incident, but no deaths or injuries took place.”

The tornado started from the banks of the Brahmaputra river, which flows close to Rowmari village, and remained restricted to a small area, he said.

“We don’t have exact details of the incident as there’s no weather observatory in that location. But from photos and videos of it seen on social media, it seems to be a light intensity tornado,” said Sunit Das, scientist at the Guwahati office of India Meteorological Department.

Scattered to widespread rains of light and moderate intensity are expected over Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram in the next five days, the weather office predicted on Saturday.