9 people killed in storm in Kolkata

The storm that hit on Tuesday night with a peak wind speed of 98kmph and blinding rain left a trail of death and destruction quite unlike the usual April squalls that paralyse life for some time but also bring relief after a hot day.

Apart from causing nine deaths, the storm felled more than 100 trees, blew off a railing from a portion of Bankim Setu in Howrah, disrupted flights and stalled the Metro.

Trees fell across the city and also in Salt Lake, Howrah and North and South 24-Parganas. "We have



information about more than 100 trees being uprooted or damaged. This number might go up as we will continue counting till late in the night," said Debashis Kumar, the mayoral council member for parks and gardens in the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC).

SN Banerjee Road was out of bounds for traffic for 45 minutes because of two trees that fell across thoroughfares. The first one was opposite New Market police station and the other one opposite the CMC headquarters.