Cooch Behar: Cyclonic storm damages houses in Dinhata

Darjeeling: A cyclonic storm left Dinhata in Cooch Behar devastated on Wednesday morning.

Many houses and shops were damaged with uprooted trees having crashed on them.

A brief cyclonic storm resulted in the uprooting of more than 30 trees in Dinhata.

Many houses were damaged here. Along with the town of Dinhata, the storm wrecked havoc in Chowrahat Bazar.

More than 10 shops were damaged in the bazar area, stated an administrative source.

Areas affected include Dinhata main road, Gopalnagar, Bypass and Chowrahat bazar. Gaurishanker Maheshwari, Mayor of Dinhata Corporation visited the affected areas to take stock

of the situation.

"Owing to the uprooted trees there have been roadblocks in many areas. Electric supply has been hampered in many areas. We are working on a war footing to clear roads by removing the trees and branches," stated Maheshwari.

Utpalendu Roy of the Babshahi Kalyan Sabha stated that the business association is taking stock of the number of businesses affected owing to the damaged shops. "We will extend all help to the affected shopkeepers" added Roy.

Incidentally the IMD had issued a rainfall warning for different parts of North Bengal and Sikkim.

"Warning has been issued for heavy rainfall for 72 hours over North Bengal," stated Dr. Gopinath Raha, in charge of the IMD, Gangtok.

Heavy rainfall is likely in some pockets of Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Kalimpong, Cooch Behar and Alipurduar. Strong winds reaching speeds of 30 to 40 kmph are likely to hit some areas of North Bengal, stated the weather office.