Thursday, April 1, 2010

Cyclone, hailstorm wreak havoc - Deaths, damage to crops and property reported from many states

Silchar/Kohima, March 31: Highspeed wind, accompanied by rain and hailstorm, has wreaked havoc in south Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura during the past three days, killing at least three persons and causing severe damage to property and standing crops.

A woman tea worker, Anima Baidya, 51, died in Koomber tea estate under Uddarbond block in Cachar district of south Assam on Saturday when her thatched house fell on her. Her death was reported to police yesterday.

Two persons were killed in Tripura.

Police sources in Aizawl today said Nor’westers swept through the northeast flank of Mizoram at least twice on Sunday followed by yet another cyclonic storm on Monday in Serchip, Lunglei, Kolosib and Saiha districts, leaving in their trails tell-tale imprints of destruction.

The Mizoram government has ordered the revenue department offices in the districts to assess the damage sustained by individuals for granting compensations.

In the Barak Valley districts of Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi, over 200 houses, mostly cottages, were damaged as the season’s first storm ripped through the area on Saturday and then last evening.

Official sources in Cachar district today said Sonai block near Silchar town bore the burnt in last night’s hailstorm. Hundreds of bighas of farmland, growing vegetables like tomatoes, beans and cauliflower, were destroyed.

Electric supply in Karimganj district was also disrupted in the wake of the storms, damaging the power pylons and snapping the overground power lines, plunging wide areas in darkness during the past four days.

At least eight tea gardens, including Pathemara, owned by the Calcutta-headquartered Grob Tea Limited, in Cachar’s Udderbond block, were ravaged by the storms which left visible marks of devastation.

In Pathemara alone as many as 3,00,000kg of green tea ready for processing suffered damages and 65 houses of tea workers were destroyed. The hailstorm caused considerable damages to roofs of buildings.

Hailstorm, accompanied by high velocity cyclone winds, lashed parts of Nagaland since yesterday causing damages to lives and properties.

Today, strong winds lashed parts of Zunheboto district twice causing heavy damage. But there was no report of death or injury in the initial reports received here. Sources said dozens of houses, including government property, were damaged in Atoizu subdivision. Eyewitnesses said around 10 houses were uprooted in Awotsakilimi village and an equal number in Yeshulto village. Several houses, including a government school, were damaged in Atoizu town. Zunheboto deputy commissioner Kiheto Sumi has deputed officials to assess the damages.

At least 60 houses were severely damaged in Changtongya town and Akhoya village in Mokokchung district by cyclone and hailstorm yesterday. Two persons, identified as Sharon, an 11-year-old Class V student of St John High School in Changtongya, and Purlemla, a 55-year-old housewife of Akhoya, were injured.

In Tripura, two persons were killed and over 600 houses damaged by similar storms in the past two days, PTI reports.

Santanjoy Reang, 13, died last night when his house collapsed during the storm at Nandirampara in North Tripura. Purnaram Reang, 21, was killed and his wife Anjuti was seriously injured when lightning struck them at Paharpur in South Tripura yesterday.

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