JORHAT, Oct 21 - A youth was killed this morning in lightning which was followed by a severe storm that left a trail of destruction including uprooting of about 20 electricity posts.
As the sky turned black at around 10 am here, a high velocity wind blew over causing damage to houses, blowing off tin roofs, uprooting trees in many areas. The winds were accompanied by lightning and thunder and was followed by heavy torrential downpour.
An official of the Jorhat Disaster Management Authority said that Debojit Das (26), a resident of Duliagaon, Garmur outskirts was struck by lightning and was killed instantly. The deceased reportedly had gone out of his house to look after his cows, the official said.
Within an hour of the storm there were reports of severe damages caused in and around the town with many trees uprooted, branches broken, tin roofs from pucca houses blown off, billboards falling down and electricity posts and cables smashed and broken.
The campuses of the Tocklai Tea Research Institute at Cinnamara and the Christian Medical Centre Hospital at Borbheta witnessed damages with the uprooting of several trees and poles.
An engineer of the subdivision of the APDCL here said that about 12 to 15 poles got broken, five at AT Road.
One 11 KV pole at Rajabari had also been affected. Other areas were Bamungaon, Kenduguri, KKB Road, the Barpatra Ali, where a huge tree in front of the DC�s bungalow and an electric post had been bent. �There is scant possibility of power being restored today,� the engineer said.
