3 injured, crops damaged as Nor'wester lashes state

BHUBANESWAR: Nor'wester lashed several parts of the state through Wednesday night and Thursday morning injuring three of a family and causing extensive damage to crops in six districts in its wake. The state relief commissioner (SRC) has sought a report from the districts on crop loss and damage due to the heavy rainfall.
"The districts that suffered maximum damage are Bargarh, Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Balasore, Sonepur and Mayurbhanj. Bargarh was the worst-affected with large-scale damage to crops in its Bhatli, Atabira, Bheden, Barpalli and Bijepur blocks," said deputy SRC P K Mohapatra.

Three of a family, including two children, of the block headquarters of Khairput in Malkangiri district were severely injured after a wall of their house caved in. Hundreds of houses at Khairput and several villages at Bonda hill, home to the primitive Bonda tribe, were completely damaged in the storm.

Sources said strong winds, that lasted for nearly an hour early on Thursday, blew away thatched roofs of houses and uprooted several trees and electric poles plunging many areas into darkness.

The 151 villages across the Balimela reservoir remained cut off from the mainland as three motor boats, the only mode of communication there, overturned at the Chitrakonda ferry point due to the raging storm. Road communication between Malkangiri and Jeypore in Koraput district was disrupted for several hours as the NH-326 was blocked with trees that were uprooted due to strong winds near Govindpally.

Mohapatra said, "Three persons were killed due to unseasonal rain in the state in April. The deceased were from Balasore, Mayurbhanj and Bargarh districts. While two persons were killed after the branch of a tree fell on them while it was raining heavily in Balasore and Bargarh, another person died in wall collapse in Mayurbhanj," he added.