Piles of hailstones fallen at a field in Pipara area of Durga Bhagawati Rural Municipality, in Rautahat district, on Friday, March 30, 2018. Photo: Prabhat Kumar Jha
Rautahat, March 30
Hailstorm battered Rautahat this morning, causing huge damage to crops and property. Places like Matsari, Pacharukhi, Ganga Pipara and Bhalohiya of Rautahat’s Durga Bhagawati Rural Municipality were worst affected.
“Hailstorm damaged roofs of a number of houses. We, along with our kids, had to scurry under the bed for safety,” said Purnanand Jha of Matsari, adding the hailstorm that lasted for about 35 minutes damaged crops, vegetables and fruit trees.
“I had a hard time even saving my head. I covered my head with a pot to be safe,” said Ghuna Pandit of Matsari. He said he had never seen such large hailstones in his entire life. “While concrete houses were safe, the ones with the roofs of tiles, straw or zinc sheets received major damage,” he said.
According to Durga Bhagawati Rural Municipality-3 ward chair Dharmendra Kumar Jha, around 600 houses were badly affected by the hailstorm. “Worst affected are Matsari and Pacharukhi, where crops, vegetables and fruit trees in bloom were damaged,” he said.
As per the preliminary report, places such as Shivanagar, Garuda, Mahamadpur and Laxmipur of Garuda Municipality, Madhopur, Mithuawa, Jethrahiya, Sakhuawa, Jayanagar, Gadho of Garuda Municipality, Dharampur, Bakhari and Malahi of Gadhimai Municipality, and a few wards of Dewahi Gonahi Municipality and Yamunamai Rural Municipality were badly affected by the hailstorm.
District Agriculture Development Office chief Raj Narayan Yadav said his office had deployed various teams to Durga Bhagawati and other hailstorm-hit places. “As per the details of the damage collected so far, the hailstorm has caused damage to crops and property worth Rs 20 million,” he said.
In the wake of the disaster today, District Natural Disaster Management Committee chair Chief District Officer Uddhav Bahadur Thapa and his team visited the hailstorm-affected areas. The CDO during the visit urged the victims to keep patience.
Relief sought for victims
The Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal presidium member and lawmaker Anil Kumar Jha from Rautahat Constituency-1 on Friday demanded that the government declare a special relief package for hailstorm-hit farmers of Rautahat and Sarlahi. Speaking at the House of Representatives taking special time, Jha demanded relief for hailstorm-hit farmers. Similarly, Maoist leader and lawmaker from Rautahat-3 Prabhu Sah drew the government’s attention towards the delay in reconstruction of infrastructure damaged by floods.
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Massive hailstorm damages crops, house roofs in Rautahat
A version of this article appears in print on March 31, 2018 of The Himalayan Times.