AGRA/ALWAR/JAIPUR: A four-hour-long
storm with very strong winds and heavy rain claimed 42 lives and left a trail of destruction in west Uttar Pradesh and east Rajasthan on Wednesday night.
Most of the dead, which included many children, were victims of house collapses as the storm swept through UP’s Agra, Mathura and Firozabad districts before lashing Bharatpur and Dholpur in Rajasthan. “Most of the deaths were due to walls of houses coming down. At many places, the victims were asleep,” said a senior officer. At least 200 people were injured and around 600 electricity poles came down.
Fourteen people died in Agra, while four each were killed in Mathura and Firozabad. Seven of them were kids. In Rajasthan, 14 people, including five children, were killed in Dholpur and six in Bharatpur district.
In Mathura district, three siblings died after the tin roof of their one-room house collapsed in Jhuravi village. According to police, the victims’ parents, who work as daily wage labourers, were not at home when incident took place.
Due to snapped power lines at many places, large areas in UP remained in darkness. The rooftop of Agra’s UP dial 100 control room fell off in the storm, injuring one cop and damaging communication lines.
Devendar Pal Singh, in-charge of UP dial 100, said, “The team is working to restore the communication channel so as to reconnect with our Lucknow headquarters. This was one of the worst storms in which several lives were lost and property worth several crores was destroyed.”
The storm also affected movement of 25 trains passing via Agra and Mathura.
Dozens of cattle were killed — at least 40 in Agra, including buffaloes and sheep, and over 50 in Firozabad. The administrations of the three districts in UP have assured the victims that they would to write to the state government and seek compensation. In Rajasthan, Dholpur district collector Shuchi Tyaagi announced an ex gratia of Rs 50,000 each to the families of the deceased.
File photo used for representation 
