Storm in West Bengal and Bihar leaves 66 dead

At least 66 people were killed and over two hundred people injured when a severe nor'wester with a windspeed of 125 kmph ripped through North Dinajpur district in West Bengal and four neighbouring districts of Bihar.

While 33 people were killed in North Dinajpur in West Bengal, an equal number died in four districts of Kishanganj, Araria, Supaul and Purnia in Bihar in the storm that hit at midnight last night, raging for nearly 40 minutes.

Tin and thatched roofs of village huts lining both sides of the National Highway-34 in Raigunj, the headquarters of North Dinajpur district, were blown away by the swirling winds and hurled at distances, injuring many people. Those wounded have been hospitalised. Around 50,000 dwellings were razed by the storm rendering hundreds of people homeless in the district while the police barracks in Raiganj was destroyed, Civil Defence Minister Sreekumar Mukherjee said.

In neighbouring Bihar's Kishenganj, Araria, Purnia and Supaul districts, 33 people were killed and 125 injured, official sources said. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 1.50 lakh to next of kin of each of the deceased, besides ordering construction of pucca houses under the Indira Awas Yojana and distribution of foodgrains.

Bamboo groves in an area of over 500 sq ft. area in one village were completely uprooted as the storm ripped through Kaliaganj, Raiganj, Karandighi and Hemtabad blocks in North Dinajpur, Mukherjee said. The nor'wester, which was accompanied by rain, uprooted thousands of trees and left telephone and electric poles twisted, he said.

According to Regional Meteorological Centre Director G C Debnath, it was a severe nor'wester that hit the district. "Since we don't have the required apparatus to determine the nature of the storm, we have sent a team of meteorologists there," he said.