Northwestern In Bengal Brings Down Trees, Damages Vehicles

A nor'wester hit the southern districts of West Bengal, including Kolkata, on Monday evening, bringing down trees and damaging a few vehicles as wind speeds reached 84 kmph.
            
Police, however, said no injury has been reported so far.
            
The Met department said the squall, recorded at its Alipore observatory in Kolkata, lasted for three minutes from 5.41 pm and had a maximum wind gust of 84 kmph.
            
The squall bore a maximum wind gust of 62 kmph at Dumdum in the northern part of the city and lasted one minute at 6 pm, it said.
            
Besides Kolkata, the northwestern hit other south Bengal districts including Purulia, Bankura, Birbhum, Purba and Paschim Medinipur, Purba and Paschim Bardhaman, Howrah, Nadia, and South and North 24 Parganas, the weatherman said.
            
Light to moderate rain accompanied the squall in various districts, including in Kolkata, it said.
            
The squall brought down several trees in the Maidan area near Victoria Memorial and the Lake Gardens area in south Kolkata, damaging a few cars.
            
Disaster Management Group personnel were deployed to remove the felled trees and clear the roads.
            
The northwestern, occurring during evening peak hours, caused heavy traffic snarls in the city, as felled trees blocked roads in some places.