Seven persons were killed and several others injured after thunderstorms hit some districts across Bengal on Friday afternoon. The MeT office said that the thunderstorm was the fallout of a cyclonic circulation over South Bengal and affected the people of the districts, the state administration and Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Kolkata said. Several roads including state highways were blocked after large tree trunks fell on roads. The storm also damaged huts and rural markets. Brick walls in many areas collapsed causing injuries to several people.
The MeT office said that the cyclonic circulation that persists over the stretch between East Bihar and South Bengal is likely to bring rains in Kolkata on Saturday afternoon.
On Friday, thunderstorms accompanied by lightings hit North Dinajpur, Nadia, Murshidabad, Malda, Jhargram, East and West Midnapore with wind speed reaching 50 kmph.
Among the seven who died, two were from North Dinajpur. The district administrations said that most of the people died while working in the fields. Meanwhile, district police started removing the tree trunks from the roads to clear the ways for vehicular traffic movements. The officers of the district administrations reached out to the villagers where households were destroyed by the storm.
But unlike districts, there was no trace of thunderstorm in Kolkata. However, there was a sigh of relief from the discomforting atmosphere as cool winds blew over the city post evening. "What we have seen in the districts today (Friday) were nor'westers. This year, nor'westers have been frequently hitting the districts this year. Thus, there is a high chance that Kolkata too will witness the same on Saturday," said Ganesh Kumar Das, Director, RMC, while talking to Millennium Post.
"This is a good chance to get rainy spells before the arrival of monsoon in Kolkata. We believe that monsoon will hit the city in the second week of June," said Skymet weather, a private forecaster. "We saw that rains remained absent in Kolkata making the weather conditions across the city and adjoining regions sultry and humid. However, the other districts of Bengal have witnessed a good number of wet spells," Skymet added.
In Salt Lake, 11-year-old Arijit Das was electrocuted to death in Salt Lake's BA Block's park on Friday evening. The boy was taken to hospital where he was declared brought dead. The eyewitnesses informed the police that the victim touched an electricity wire connecting a meter box during strong winds that blew during the evening.