Hailstorm damages crops in several north Bihar districts
2 min readPATNA: Hailstorm accompanied by moderate rain lashed several districts in north Bihar on Friday.
Certain blocks of Sitamarhi, Madhubani, East and West Champaran, Araria, Kishanganj and Darbhanga witnessed hailstorm along with thundershowers during the day. Thunder squall occurred in some districts in north Bihar, such as Purnia and Motihari.
Satellite observations of Doppler Weather Radar on Friday morning showed severe thunderstorm, hailstorm, lightning accompanied with light to moderate rain and winds at a speed of 60-80km per hour lashing Bettiah, Motihari, Sheohar, Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Darbhanga, Samastipur, Muzaffarpur, Purnia, Katihar, Madhepura, Supaul, Araria and Saharsa from 10am to 1pm on Friday.
The snow pellets during the hailstorm caused damage to standing wheat, sugarcane and maize crops in many north Bihar districts. Litchi and mango blossoms also sustained damages.
Two women were injured in Madhubani district while grazing cattle. Altogether three blocks in Madhubani district were lashed by hailstorms. State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) inspector S J Chaurasia, who is posted in Madhubani, said the extent of damage caused by the hailstorm in the district was being assessed.
Sitamarhi experienced wide scale damage to mango and litchi blossoms, standing wheat, sugarcane and maize crops. District agriculture officer Ram Kishore Rai said the extent of the damage was being assessed. Tin roofs and asbestos of several houses in the district were also damaged.
Darbhanga also experienced hailstorm on Friday morning, causing substantial damage to mango blossoms. In Araria, wheat and maize crops were damaged.
The Patna Meteorological Centre had on Tuesday forecast thundershowers with gusty winds in the city and several other places of the state on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
On Friday as well, the regional meteorological centre of India Meteorological Department (IMD) in Kolkata forecast scattered rainfall accompanied by thundershowers in all 38 districts of Bihar on Saturday and Sunday. The intensity of showers is, however, expected to reduce from Sunday onwards as isolated thundershowers are expected on Monday and Tuesday.
Met experts attributed the prevailing weather conditions to combined impact of several weather systems in the region. “A cyclonic circulation is prevailing over east Jharkhand, adjoining West Bengal and Bihar. Besides, a trough line is also extending from east Bihar to south interior Odisha. The two systems are together leading to thundershowers and other weather conditions,” a senior Met official said.
The all-India weather bulletin issued by IMD on Friday evening also stated that isolated thunderstorm accompanied with thunder squall may occur in Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura during the next 48 hours and over Bihar, West Bengal, Sikkim, Jharkhand and Odisha during next three days.
Courtesy: TNN
