Storm kills 6 in the capital

Six people were killed and 18 others injured in the capital, as a nor'wester lashed Dhaka and some other districts across the country yesterday evening.

The nor'wester, this year's first, began around 6:22pm and lasted for over a minute, according to the Met office. 

The wind speed of 74km was recorded per hour during the storm, Ruhul Kuddus, meteorologist at the office, told The Daily Star.

Tea vendor Md Hanif, 50, of Paltan, pick-up driver Dudal Mia, 40, of Shewrapara, and rickshaw puller Md Hasan, 40, of Shanir Akhra, were killed as bricks fell on them from under-construction buildings.

Mili de-Costa, 62, a resident of Monipuripara, died after a tree fell on her near the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, said Jan-e-Alam Munshi, officer-in-charge of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police.

Officials of the fire service and civil defence headquarters said divers recovered two bodies from the Buriganga river in Keraniganj's Kholamora area last night as a trawler capsized in the river during the storm.

The identities of the two victims could not be known immediately.  

Besides, 18 people were injured during the storm and they were undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said officials at DMCH police outpost.

Trees were felled in Tejgaon Satrasta, Bakshibazar, New Market, Demra, Bailey Road, Gendaria, Mintoo Road and Motijheel areas in the capital. Traffic was disrupted in the areas, said fire service officials.

The fire service officials were removing the trees from streets till filing of this report around 11:00pm, the officials added.

Felled trees also snapped power lines in various parts of the city, said Saiful Hasan Chowdhury, public relations officer at Bangladesh Power Development Board.

Power outages were reported from Siddheswari, Malibagh, Dhanmondi, Shantinagar and other areas of the capital. “Repair is going on and we hope that the situation will return to normalcy shortly,” he said while talking to The Daily Star around 9:00pm.

Besides Dhaka, the storm swept across some other districts, including Narayanganj, Sylhet and Rajshahi.

Meanwhile, three people went missing after a trawler capsized when it was crossing the Meghna river in Narayanganj's Sonargaon upazila during the storm, reports our Munshiganj correspondent.

Md Moniruzzaman, officer-in-charge of Sonargaon Police Station, said 18 people, including presiding officer and polling officers of Sonargaon upazila polls, along with election materials, were going to the upazila returning officer after the voting ended.

Fifteen of them could swim ashore while the rest could not.

The ferry and launch services on the Paturia-Daulatdia route in the Padma river were suspended due to the sudden stormy weather in the afternoon, UNB adds.

Zillur Rahman, assistant general manager of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation, said the authorities suspended the services from 5:40pm because of bad weather.

The latest Met office bulletin said rain or thundershowers accompanied by temporary gusty/squally wind is likely to occur at many places over Rangpur, Mymensingh, Dhaka, Chattogram and Sylhet divisions, and at a few places over Khulna, Barishal and Rajshahi divisions with hails at isolated places.

Rain or thundershowers may continue for the subsequent two days.