Mother, 2 sons among 4 killed as Nor’wester sweeps Joypurhat

A nor’wester swept Joypurhat district on Tuesday night, killing four people including three members of a family and destroying over 2,000 houses, reports news agency UNB.

The deceased were identified as Shilpi Begum 28, wife of a certain day labourer Joynal Abedin, their two sons Newaj, 8 and Niamul, 3, of Kholishagari village in Khetlal upazila, and Morium begum, 70, of Akondapara village in Kalai upazila.

Deputy commissioner Mohammad Jakir Hossain said the storm hit the area at around 10:30pm damaging over 2,000 houses at 40 to 45 villages of Joypurhat sadar, Kalai and Khetlala upazilas.

The woman and her two sons died in Khetlal upazila as their housed collapsed on them after an uprooted tree fallen on the house while the elderly woman died in Kalai upazila, he added.

Locals said some electric poles were damaged and hundreds of trees were uprooted due to the storm.

Over 40,000 chickens died as a shed fell on them during the storm in Tilabodul area in Khetlala upazila, locals said.

Electricity supply remained snapped in the area since Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, a nor’wester accompanied by rain and gusty wind with 78kph swept the capital early Wednesday.

“The wind speed was 83kph in the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport area in the capital,” said Md Aftab Uddin, a meteorologist of Dhaka met office.

On Wednesday, cyclone ‘Amphan’ battered coastal districts of Bangladesh, with wind speed of up to 180kph and over 10 feet tidal surge.

It inflicted heavy damage to lives, livelihood, agriculture, infrastructures, environment, as well as the largest mangrove forest in the world, the Sundarbans, in southwestern region of the country.