Tornado lashes northern dists, 100 hurt
Dhaka, Feb 16 (bdnews24.com) — A tornado coupled with hailstorm has lashed northern Thakurgaon district, leaving at least 100 people injured and 70 houses damaged.
Wheat and maze in a vast tract of land were also ruined and an unspecified number of tress was uprooted in Sadar, Baliadangi and Haripur upazilas during the nature's onslaught on Wednesday afternoon.
Tornado also swept Panchagarh, Nilphamari and Kurigram districts during the same period.
The seasonal storm hit Ulipur and Chilmari upazilas of Panchagarh, causing damage to wheat, potato and other spring harvests.
There was no immediate report of damage or casualty from Nilphamari and Kurigram.
In Thakurgaon, wheat and maze in about 5,000 hectares of land in Baliadanga upazila was covered with around six-inch high hails, upazila chairman Probir Kumar Roy and Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Moniruzzaman said after visiting the affected areas.
As many as 70 farmers, who were working in the fields, were injured, they said.
Haripur UNO Harun-or-Rashid said 30 people were injured and more than 70 percent of the cultivated wheat in the upazila was levelled by the tornado.
About 70 houses were damaged in Dhantola and Paria unions, he said.
District crop production expert Abdul Majid said the extent of the damage was under assessment.
In Panchgarh, moderate rain since morning turned into a hailstorm around 3pm.
Drivers had to switch on the headlights of their vehicles during the 10-minute storm.
Deputy commissioner Banamali Bhowmik, who was on way to Panchagarh from Dhaka in the late afternoon, told bdnews24.com he had heard about the tornado. He could not give the details.
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