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Death toll in storm in Bihar rises to 57

Last Updated 24 April 2015, 14:48 IST

 The toll in the killer Nor'wester storm in Bihar rose to 57 with three more deaths reported today, even as Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today jointly conducted an aerial survey of the affected region.

The three deaths were reported from Purnea, Madhepura and Darbhanga.As per the latest report compiled by the state Disaster Management department, the worst-hit Purnea bore brunt of the Nor'wester with a maximum of 38 deaths.

While eight persons lost their lives in Madhepura, three each died in Madhubani and Darbhanga, two each in Katihar and Sitamarhi and one in Supual, the report said.
The latest report put the figure of injured persons at 442, all in Madhubani.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar along with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh undertook an aerial survey of Purnea, Madhepura and Katihar.

They held a meeting with officials at Purnea and gave instructions to speed up the relief and rehabilitation work.

Union Agriculture Minister Radhamohan Singh, Union Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi were part of the aerial team.

State Meteorological Department has issued an alert about possibility of thunder squall and rain today and tomorrow in north-eastern parts of Bihar.

Director state Met office A K Sen told PTI today that an alert has been sounded on the basis of "atmospheric instability" detected in the area particularly in the districts of Purnea, Katihar, Kishanganj and Motohari.

"The area might witness thunder squall and rains which are dangerous," Sen said.

Special Secretary in State Disaster Management department Anirudh Kumar told PTI that the alert has been sent to district magistrates of 12 districts in the region.

The affected districts are Purnea, Araria, Kishanganj, Katihar, Madhepura, Supaul, Saharsa, Bhagalpur, Banka, Samastipur, Darbhanga and Madhubani.

Meanwhile, electricity has been badly hit in Purnea district, which bore the brunt of the storm.


Secretary, Energy, Pratya Amrit told PTI from Purnea that more than 800 electric poles have been uprooted and 40 transformers damaged in the storm in Purnea district.

He said officials were working on a war footing to restore electricity in damaged areas of the district and exuded confidence that by tonight almost 90 per cent of power restoration work would be completed in Purnea.

Principal Secretary state Disaster Management department Vyas Jee told PTI that the compensation of Rs 4 lakh as announced by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been distributed among kin of the dead.

Jee, on return to the state capital after attending review meeting at Purnea with the Union Home Minister and CM, said as announced earlier, immediate relief in the form of one quintal foodgrains, Rs 2000 cash, as much for purchase of utensils and Rs 1800 for buying clothes were being distributed among families whose dwelling have been ravaged in the late Tuesday night storm.

Jee directed officials to distribute dry ration like "chura" (beaten rice) and "Gur" (jaggery) to people while taking round of the affected areas.

The disaster management department report on storm put the number of affected families at 71,123 in different districts of Bihar.

The report said a total of 224 panchayats in 43 blocks have been hit by the high speed storm. It said 51 animals also perished in the storm and the maximum, 50, are in worst-hit Purnea, it added.

A total of 69,773 dwellings have been ravaged either totally or partially, the report said.
Maximum 41,350 out of this are in Purnea while 16,624 are in neighbouring Katihar district, the report said.

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(Published 24 April 2015, 14:44 IST)

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