Bhubaneswar: Nor’wester wreaked havoc, uprooting trees and damaging electric infrastructure, in several parts of Bhubaneswar in the early hours of Friday.
Strong winds and rain accompanied by lightning and thunder lashed the city and its adjoining areas around 4 am. The squall, known as “Kalbaisakhi” in local parlance, uprooted several trees. Odisha Fire Service personnel have now started clearing the roads at a few places, sources said.
Kolkata had witnessed a similar ‘mini’ storm on Wednesday evening as a nor’wester packing a wind speed of 96 km per hour had lashed the city.
Meanwhile, the Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre has forecast thunderstorm with lightning and gusty surface wind speed reaching 40-50 kmph and light to moderate rainfall at one or two places in Dhenkanal, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Puri, Keonjhar and Ganjam till 11 am on Friday.
It had earlier predicted similar weather conditions at one or two places in Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Khurda (including Bhubaneswar),Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara and Cuttack between 4 am and 7 am.