1 killed, 30 injured in tornado

A man was killed and 30 others were injured as tornadoes hit Faridpur Sadar upazila and Pabna's Sujanagar on Monday evening.

Over 1,000 houses along with crops and trees were damaged by the storm in the two districts.

In Faridpur, a man was killed and more than 700 houses along with crops were affected as a storm swept through 12 villages in four unions of Sadar upazila, reports our correspondent there.

The deceased is Abdul Jalil Chokidar, 60, of Chandipur village.

The unions are Machhchar, North Channel, Decreer Char and Char Madhabdia.

Yunus Ali, a former member of Machhchar union, said a tree fell on Jalil when he was going to a safe place from a tea stall after the tornado began. He was rushed to Faridpur Medical College Hospital where he died around 8:00pm.

 Mostofa Hossain Khan, chairman of North Channel union, said around 600 houses were damaged by the storm in the union.  

Besides, 40 houses were affected in Decreer Char union and 100 more in Char Madhabdia union.

GM Abdul Rouf, director of Faridpur agricultural extension department, said around 50 hectares of onion seed fields, some 59 hectares of banana fields, and about 62 hectares of maize fields were ruined by a hailstorm in North Channel union.

In Pabna, some 30 people were injured and over 400 houses were damaged as a tornado lashed through five villages in Pabna's Sujanagar, reports our district correspondent.

The storm also wreaked havoc on trees.

Shakhawat Hossain, Sujanagar upazila nirbahi officer, said the 15-minute storm hit Chargobindopur village of Ahmedpur union and Bodonpur, Chinakhora, Dulai and Chardulai villages of Dulai union around 6:30pm. 

It could not be confirmed how many houses had been damaged. But they assumed that over 300 houses and many trees were affected by the storm, the UNO said.

Of the 30 wounded, Halima Khatun, 35, of Chargobindopur, was undergoing treatment at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital, and nine others were admitted to Sujanagar Upazila Health Complex.

Vehicular movement on the Dhaka-Pabna highway was disrupted for around two hours as hundreds of trees fell on the highway, sources said.

“When the storm began, we rushed here and there to save our lives. We saw our houses being blown away by the storm," said Akkas Ali of Chargobindopur village, which was affected the most, adding that the storm left them homeless within 15 minutes.

“There is no place to take shelter in the village because all the houses were damaged," Akkas said.

They were living under the open sky, he added.

He also alleged that the supply of food was inadequate.

Talking to The Daily Star, UNO Shakhawat said the upazila and the district administrations were working in the affected villages.

“We have already distributed 20kg of rice, Tk 1,000 and dry food among each of the 200 victim families," he said.

Relief work would continue, and the victims would be given support for their rehabilitation, the UNO added.