Nor’wester kills 9, injures 6 Hundreds of houses damaged, power supply snapped, ferry movement suspended.

At least nine people were killed and six injured in Dhaka, Bogra and Rajshahi as many areas of the country witnessed nor’wester on Saturday. The dead are Akhiron, 32, of Boubazar in Bogra district town, Fanna Mia, 30, of Radhanagar under Shahjahanpur in Bogra, Firoza Begum, 56, of Lohagara under Sonatala in Bogra, Asma Begum, 45, of Telihata under Gabtali in Bogra, Payel Buda, 16 of Shahjahanpur in Bogra, Hanif Sheikh, 45, of Hoglabunia under Nazirpur in Pirojpur, Abdus Sobhan, 50, of Poba upazila in Rajshahi, an unidentified elderly woman, aged around 60, in Rajshahi university campus in Rajshahi city and Shahnaj Begum, 35, of village Mahanagar under Manda. Reports received from districts said hundreds of mud houses were damaged and power supply snapped for hours together due to the nor’wester in Bogra, Rajshahi, Manikganj, Jamalpur and Sunamganj. Department of Agricultural Extension officials in the districts said they were informed that the nor’wester had damaged a huge area of cropland but the exact figure of loss could not be calculated immediately.

Due to the stormy weather, ferry movement remained suspended on Daulatdia-Paturia route of Padma from 6:45pm to 8:30pm, Paturia jetty assistant manager (business) Mohiuddin Rasel said. In Dhaka city, two rickshaw peddlers were injured as a billboard collapsed and fell on them near Shahbagh during the storm in the evening. They were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. A boatman, Hanif Sheikh, 45, of Hoglabunia under Nazirpur in Pirojpur died at DMCH as he was hit by two launches in Buriganga near Sadarghat in Dhaka amid the nor’wester at around 7:30pm, DMCH police camp officials said. Around 10-minute nor’wester from around 6:00pm lashed over Bogra district town and its surrounding areas killing five and damaging hundreds of trees and houses, snapping power supply and Bogra-Rangpur roadway communication, New Age correspondent in Bogra, quoting locals and police, reported. Akhiron, a housewife, died, and four others were injured as they became victims of a wall collapse at her house at Boubazar in Bogra town and Fanna Mia died as a tree fell on him at his homestead in Radhanagar under Shahjahanpur during the nor’wester. Firoza Begum, 56, of Lohagara under Sonatala in Bogra and Asma Begum, 45, of Telihata under Gabtali in Bogra also died as their house collapsed and fell on them while Payel Buda, 16 of Shahjahanpur in Bogra died as a under-construction building collapsed on him. In Jamalpur, nor’wester that blew over five upazilas, out of seven of the district, Saturday evening, damaged about 500 houses and crops of a huge area of land.

In Sunamganj, a nor’wester that blew over four upazilas of the district early Saturday destroyed a tower of Power Development Board halting power supply in the upazilas for the whole day. Abdus Sobhan, 50, was killed in Poba in Rajshahi as he was hit by lightning during the storm in the evening, while an unidentified elderly woman, aged around 60, died during the nor’wester in Rajshahi university campus in Rajshahi city, New Age correspondent in Rajshahi reported. The power supply due to the nor’wester snapped at around 5:00pm in the city and could not be restored till 9:30pm. In Naogaon, Shahnaj Begum, 35, of village Mahanagar under Manda died as the wall of her house collapsed on her during the nor’wester in the evening, Manda police officer-in-charge Mozaffor Hossain told New Age.

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