Staff Reporter :
At least three persons including a woman were killed and 12 others injured as a nor’wester lashed Dhaka city and other parts of country on Sunday evening.
The tropical storm, the first of the season, hit the capital around 6:15pm and lasted for a few minutes, according to the Met Office.
A wind with speed of 74kmph and 17mm of rain were recorded during the storm, said Meteorologist Bazlur Rashid.
The sudden rain also caused a widespread traffic gridlock in the city, inflicting sufferings on those returning home from their offices.
One tea vendor was killed after bricks fell on him at Paltan and a tree took life of another woman near Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban after the storm.
Mili de-Costa, 62, a resident of Monipuripara, died after a tree fell on her on Lake Road around 6:00pm, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station Officer-in-Charge Jan-e-Alam Munshi said.
A tea vendor of Paltan, Md Hanif, 50, died after a piece of brick fell on him from an under-construction building, said Bachchu Mia, in-charge of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
A pickup van driver who worked for a furniture company died after brick fell on him from a building during the storm, Officer-in-Charge of Mirpur Police Station Dadon Fakir said.
Reports of broken twigs and tree branches and fallen billboards have been reported from different areas of Dhaka including, Paltan, Kakrail, Old Dhaka, Mirpur, Mohammadpur and Minto Road, but a comprehensive outlook was still unavailable still filling of the report at around 9:00 pm last night.
Meanwhile, ferry services on the Paturia-Daulatdia route on Padma River resumed in the evening, after a one-and-a-half-hour halt due to the sudden nor’wester.
Zillur Rahman, assistant general manager of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation, said only the ferry services were restored around 7pm and the launch service would resume on Monday morning.
Earlier, the authorities suspended the water transport services on the route from 5:40pm due to stormy weather, leaving 16 ferries and around 400 vehicles stuck on both sides of the river.
The latest Met Office bulletin said, rain/thundershowers accompanied by temporary gusty/squally wind is likely to occur at many places over Rangpur, Mymensingh, Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet divisions, and at a few places over Khulna, Barisal and Rajshahi divisions with hails at isolated places.
Rain or thundershowers may continue for the subsequent two days.
