1 dead, teen injured as Nor’wester brings rain & destruction | Bhubaneswar News
Bhubaneswar: One person died and a young boy suffered serious injuries in separate incidents as a powerful Nor’wester swept through coastal Odisha on Friday morning, leaving behind a trail of destruction and inundating low-lying areas.
A farmer, Jaga Barik, who was working in the field in Puri district, died allegedly due to lightning strike.
In another incident in Bhubaneswar’s IRC Village area of Nayapalli, a 13-year-old boy was critically injured when strong wind, with speed of 68 to 80 kmph, swept him off a rooftop. Sohan Digal, who was gathering clothes from a drying line, fell onto an iron grill below, with one of its sharp spikes penetrating his shoulder.
Fire services personnel cut through the grill to rescue him before rushing him to the hospital. Doctors said the boy is in a critical condition.
In Balasore, the boundary wall of a school collapsed due to strong winds. No one was injured as the school was closed owing to Good Friday.
The twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack bore the brunt of the storm’s fury, with widespread damage reported across both cities. The Nor’wester, which intensified around 9 am, caused extensive disruption to daily life, with uprooted trees and electric poles blocking roads, leaving people stranded in different localities.
Multiple areas in Bhubaneswar, including Soubhagya Nagar, Laxmi Sagar and Bomikhal experienced severe waterlogging. Odisha Fire and Emergency Services deployed 15 teams across Bhubaneswar to clear debris and restore normalcy.
In the meantime, the TP Central Odisha Distribution Limited worked to restore power supply to the affected areas. Many localities in Bhubaneswar witnessed power disruption for over an hour on Friday morning due to the Nor’wester.
“It was like a storm. Branches of a massive tree outside my house kept falling due to the high wind speed. The power supply was also disrupted for over an hour, causing inconvenience to us,” said Akash Rana, a resident of Old Town, describing the intensity of the Nor’wester. City authorities mobilised resources for swift damage control and restoration.
A farmer, Jaga Barik, who was working in the field in Puri district, died allegedly due to lightning strike.
In another incident in Bhubaneswar’s IRC Village area of Nayapalli, a 13-year-old boy was critically injured when strong wind, with speed of 68 to 80 kmph, swept him off a rooftop. Sohan Digal, who was gathering clothes from a drying line, fell onto an iron grill below, with one of its sharp spikes penetrating his shoulder.
Fire services personnel cut through the grill to rescue him before rushing him to the hospital. Doctors said the boy is in a critical condition.
In Balasore, the boundary wall of a school collapsed due to strong winds. No one was injured as the school was closed owing to Good Friday.
The twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack bore the brunt of the storm’s fury, with widespread damage reported across both cities. The Nor’wester, which intensified around 9 am, caused extensive disruption to daily life, with uprooted trees and electric poles blocking roads, leaving people stranded in different localities.
Multiple areas in Bhubaneswar, including Soubhagya Nagar, Laxmi Sagar and Bomikhal experienced severe waterlogging. Odisha Fire and Emergency Services deployed 15 teams across Bhubaneswar to clear debris and restore normalcy.
In the meantime, the TP Central Odisha Distribution Limited worked to restore power supply to the affected areas. Many localities in Bhubaneswar witnessed power disruption for over an hour on Friday morning due to the Nor’wester.
“It was like a storm. Branches of a massive tree outside my house kept falling due to the high wind speed. The power supply was also disrupted for over an hour, causing inconvenience to us,” said Akash Rana, a resident of Old Town, describing the intensity of the Nor’wester. City authorities mobilised resources for swift damage control and restoration.
