E-Paper
Eight killed in storm, lightning in Bengal, toll goes up to 19 in two days
Murshidabad district suffered the worst damage and reported five deaths.
At least eight people were killed when several districts of Bengal were hit by rain and thunderstorm between Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Murshidabad district, where as many as five people died, suffered the maximum damage though the thunderstorm lasted for only 15 minutes. A large number of houses collapsed and trees were uprooted.
Vast parts of Birbhum, East Burdwan, West Burdwan, Nadia and Malda districts were affected. Manwara Bibi, 35, and her son Niaz Ali, 12, died when their house caught fire after it was struck by lightning in Kharsinpur village in Mallarpur area of Birbhum district. In Cooch Behar district, an unidentified woman died when she came under a falling tree.
People at Nowda block in Murshidabad district suffered the worst. Hasibul Halsana,24, a resident of Damdama village, died when he was hit by lightning. Siddique Sheikh,72, a resident of Trimohini village, was crushed under a wall. Sheikh’s wife Momina Bibi and three others were injured.
Niyamat Sheikh,65, was crushed to death when his house collapsed at Harikana village in Bali-II gram panchayat area. Kalikinkar Ghosh, 60, a farmer at Kechumari village in Salar area was killed by lightning when he was working in the field. Murshida Bibi,23, a resident of Anantapur village, was also killed by lightning when she was collecting mango and firewood.
Traffic got stalled at several places in Murshidabad as trees felled on roads and highways. Mango and banana plantations suffered severe damage. Paddy and jute farmers were not spared either.
At Nowda in Murshidabad, at least 10 people were injured. Many houses collapsed and power supply got disrupted in the district’s Hariharpara and Beldanga areas “We are collecting details of the damage to property. Many houses have collapsed. We are also trying to restore power supply,” P Ulganathan, district magistrate of Murshidabad said.
Rain and thunderstorms caused severe damage on Wednesday as well. At least 11 people died in various parts of Bengal. Four of them died in the north Bengal districts. Last month, around 25 people died in the state. At least 10 people, including a class 6 student, were killed by lightning on April 30. On April 18, a storm with a wind speed of more than 90 km an hour disrupted life in Kolkata and left 15 dead in Bengal.
