Another double squall hits Kolkata, speed touches 92kmph, mercury dips by 7 degree Celsius

KOLKATA: Two squalls in a span of 30 minutes accompanied by thunder, lightning and rain lashed Kolkata on Friday afternoon, uprooting trees and disrupting traffic movement. The mercury plunged to 25.5°C from 32.5°C right after the thundershower. The Met office expects similar conditions through next week, which might arrest the mercury from rising. Eight persons were injured and one person died in various accidents in Kolkata and Howrah that resulted from the storm.

The first squall struck at 3.30pm at 56kmph.When it had started to slow down, the second one hit at 4pm at 92kmph, uprooting trees, electric poles and snapping cable wires. The highest rainfall was recorded in Dhapa — 38.6mm in about than an hour.
“This was the second strongest squall this year — the strongest blew through the city at 98kmph on April 17. Thundercloud cells had formed over Nadia and North 24 Parganas before the cloud column that measured about 15km inched towards the city triggering the thunderssquall,” said G K Das director (weather) at Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Kolkata.
“The heating is already present, along with enough moisture in the air. Hence, conditions are conducive to more thundershower activities in the coming days. However, chances are low particularly on Saturday,” added Das.
A tree fell on a car carrying 71-year-old Niranjan Nayak near Ganesh Talkies. He was trapped inside till the Disaster Management Group (DMG) rescued him. Nayak was admitted in Calcutta Medical College and Hospital with a leg injury. Pedestrian Koushik Singha, 25, was wounded in the leg and head outside Victoria Memorial when a branch fell on him. He was taken to SSKM Hospital. At Sakher Bazar, Souvik Saha, 29, was hit by a falling traffic signal post and was admitted to a private hospital with hand and leg injuries.
In Howrah’s Shyampur, Rabin Das, 48, died when a mango tree was uprooted and fell on his motorcycle. On Nidhiram Majhi Lane, a three-storey building collapsed, injuring four persons — two of them critically. At Mandirtala, a brick from an under-construction building fell on the head of 52-yearold Shyamal Sarkar. He was admitted to a private hospital in Kolkata.
Several pockets in Kolkata were waterlogged and traffic movement was disrupted in places where uprooted trees blocked the road.
The squall did not spare the state secretariat at Nabanna either. Several of the fibre sheets covering the portico in front of the VIP gate were blown away by the storm. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee was then in her room on the 14th floor. She asked the disaster management team to find out if any houses had collapsed.
Professor Krishnendu Majhi of Goenka College who was returning home to Howrah via the Vidyasagar Setu said the state bus he was in had to be stopped at the middle of the bridge due to the storm. “The roof vent of the bus was blown off by the storm,” he said.