Deadly dust storm and thundershowers ravaged Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi on Wednesday night, killing over 100 people, injuring over 200, and leaving behind a gruesome trail of destruction, collapsed houses, uprooted trees and electric poles. The Met department has warned that the storm may revisit certain States in the next 24 hours.
“The death toll till Thursday evening was 108. Seventy people were killed and 83 others injured in UP. In Rajasthan, 38 died and another 100 were injured in the storm,” said Union Home Ministry officials, adding that they are awaiting detailed report from various parts.
In UP, the storm also played havoc for farmers as large scale damage to standing crops was reported. The maximum causalities were reported from Agra. While the Government put the State-wide death toll at 70 and 83 injured, officials claimed that the death toll could spike further as more reports were pouring in from other parts of the State.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who was away in Karnataka for poll campaign, issued an advisory to officers and directed them to personally monitor relief operations and provide necessary medical facilities to the affected.
Relief Commissioner Sanjay Kumar said 43 people died in Agra, three each in Bijnore and Kanpur Dehat, two each in Saharanpur, Kanpur City, Hamirpur and Mirzapur, and one each in Bareilly, Rae Bareli, Chitrakoot, Philibhit, Mathura, Amroha, Banda, Sitapur, Sambhal, Etawah, Allahabad, Rampur and Unnao.
Besides human loss, 156 cattle perished in the storm as trees fell on cattle sheds killing the animals.
“The intensity of the storm was so high that trees were uprooted and fell on buildings flattening them. People inside the house died instantly. In villages, mud walls collapsed killing the inmates,” the official said.
The 130 kmph storm mangled and destroyed electric and telephone poles. “We have not been able to restore communication with the people but the damage has been intense,” the Relief Commissioner said.
Director of Meteorology department JP Gupta said due to western disturbances, high velocity winds swept across Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and parts of Haryana.
“Heavy rain was also reported from some of these areas. It is likely to continue in Uttarakhand and parts of Uttar Pradesh in the next 24 hours,” Gupta said.
The Met office has, meanwhile, warned of more thunderstorms accompanied by gusty winds in districts like Gorakhpur, Ballia, Mau, Ghazipur, Ambedkar Nagar, SK Nagar, Basti, Kushinagar, Mahrajganj, Siddharthnagar, Gonda, Balrampur, Aligarh, Etah, Bijnore, Baghpat etc.
In Rajasthan, Dholpur district was the worst affected with 17 killed. The heavy dust storm prevailed over more than 45 minutes. Two of those killed in Dholpur were from Agra in Uttar Pradesh. “A few people are undergoing primary treatment while others were discharged. One critical patient from Dholpur was referred to Jaipur,” said Hemant Kumar Gera, Secretary, Disaster Management and Relief. He said more than 100 were injured in the disaster. 20 were injured in Alwar, 32 in Bharatpur and 50 in Dholpur respectively.
A detailed report of the disaster from various States are awaited even as relief and rescue teams have been pressed into service to clear debris and restore power supply, said Union Home Ministry officials.
The Met department on Thursday evening predicted another dust storm in parts of Rajasthan and UP in the next 48 hours. Analysing the developments on Wednesday night’s calamity, the Met department said the cyclonic circulation over Haryana was the trigger for the deadly dust storm that swept parts of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, estimating that the wind speed during the storm may have gone up to 100 kilometres per hour.
There were primarily four reasons that lead to the thunderstorm -- excessive heating, availability of moisture, instability in atmosphere and a trigger for the storm, India Meteorological Department (IMD) Additional Director General Mritunjay Mohapatra said.
“The north Indian plains have been witnessing temperatures of over 40 degrees Celsius. There were two sources of moisture --a western disturbance over north Pakistan and adjoining Jammu & Kashmir and easterly winds from the Bay of Bengal,” Mohaptara said.
The cold winds from the western disturbance was making atmosphere unstable. “The trigger was a cyclonic circulation over Haryana,” Mohapatra said. This led to the formation of two cloud patches, said Mahesh Palawat, Vice-President (Meteorology and Climate Change) of Skymet, a private firm that provides weather forecast.
One patch moved to north of Delhi, while another patch moved over the Alwar, Agra, and Dholpur belt, which was more deadly. Mohapatra said it was difficult to record the wind speed as the phenomenon was restricted to only small patches. In Delhi, where a milder version of the dust storm and thunderstorm struck, the wind speed was recorded as 69 kmph. However, Palawal estimated that the wind speed would have been more than 100 kmph.