A severe Nor’wester ravaged through Dhaka on Sunday evening leaving three people killed as it felled trees, uprooted electricity poles and billboards across the capital.
The 20-minute storm, packing a wind speed of 70 km per hour, lashed the capital around 6pm when people were heading home from work on the first weekday.
A tea-stall owner in the city’s Paltan died when bricks from an under-construction building fell on him during the storm.
The body of the victim, identified as Abdul Hanif, has been kept at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), Sub-Inspector Sujan Kumar of the Paltan police station told Bangla Tribune.
One Abu Nayeem Noman, who was nearby the tea-stall when the incident happened around 6pm, told Bangla Tribune: “I was having some food from a near-by vendor when the storm started. I ran for shelter when saw bricks from a construction site falling on the tea-stall owner. Locals and nearby vendors immediately took him away on a rickshaw.”
A woman died after an uprooted tree fell on her in parliament area, said police.
The victim has been identified as 40-year-old Mily D Costa, a resident of Monipuripara near the parliament premises, said Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station OC Jan-e-Alam.
In Mirpur, a man has died when gusty winds caused brick from a building to struck him at the West Shewrapara, police said.
The victim has been identified as 40-year-old Dulal, who used to work as a driver, Sub Inspector Ashiqur Rahman of the Mirpur Model Police Station told Bangla Tribune.
The fierce storm, coupled with thundershowers flung trees onto the streets in many areas of the city.
In Mintoo Road, a tree collapsed on cars and three-wheeler autorickshaws.
Duty officer Shahidul Usman of Rama police station said an uprooted tree damaged two cars and an autorickshaw. The drivers and others in the vehicles suffered minor injuries.
The fire department said a wall of a private hospital at Maghbazar collapsed in storm.
A unit has been dispatched to the Ad-din Hospital as soon as the incident was reported, said Duty Officer Ataur Rahman at the Fire Service headquarters.
Reports of trees felled by the storm came in from Dhanmondi, Dhaka University Campus, the Mirpur Road and the Science Laboratory areas.
The storm blew away the signboard of Shahbagh Police Station, upended an electricity pole on Minto Road and felled a tree branch on road no. 3 at Dhanmondi, reports bdnews24.com.
Quoting an official at the Fire Service control room, the online newspaper said trees getting uprooted were reported from at least 25 areas across the city.
The storm has damaged electric poles, snapped cables and transmission lines causing power outages in several parts of Dhaka in haywire.
Soon after the storm started, power was out in several areas of the city, including Dhanmondi, Sukrabad, Panthapath, Kalabagan, Azimpur, Lalbagh, Maghbazar, Mowchak and Matuail.
Four 132KV grid lines, covering Dhanmondi, Lalbagh, Moghbazar and Matuail, have snapped during the storm, said the Dhaka Power Distribution Co (DPDC).
“Works are on to repair the grid lines,” DPDC Director (operations) Harun Ur Rashid told Bangla Tribune before adding that they expect to restore the power situation by late Sunday.
