At least four people were killed when a nor'wester packing wind speed of 90 km per hour an hour and accompanied by rains struck the southern part of West Bengal on Saturday evening, a state disaster management official said.
One man was killed after a brick wall collapsed on him in Purba Bardhaman district, while another died in a lightning strike in Nadia district, the official told PTI. Two boys died when the boat they were rowing in Kolkata’s Rabindra Sarobar Lake capsized during the nor’wester, the police said.
Disaster Management Minister Javed Ahmed Khan told PTI that several trees fell in different parts of the metropolis causing traffic disruption.The nor'wester hit North and South 24 Parganas, Hooghly and Purba Bardhaman districts, besides Kolkata, a Met Office spokesperson said.
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The squall brought relief from the sweltering heat of the past few days but also inconvenienced commuters as fewer public vehicles plied after it. A tree fell on the Metro Rail track between Mahanayak Uttam Kumar and Netaji railway stations in Kolkata disrupting services in a section of the city's lifeline for around 50 minutes, an official said.
“The services were affected between 4.40 pm and 5.30 pm," he said. Flight services at the NSC Bose International Airport was halted for about one and half hours due to the nor'wester, Airport Authority sources said. The routes of two flights were changed. The Agartala-Kolkata Indigo flight made emergency landing at the Biju Patnaik Airport in Bhubaneswar, as did the Imphal-Kolkata Air India flight, the sources added.
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(With PTI inputs)
