Uprooted trees and damaged huts in Chhatrak, one of the affected villages, on Tuesday. Picture by Surajit Roy

Malda, March 4: Two persons died, more than 700 mud houses collapsed and thousands of hectares of standing crop was destroyed when a heavy storm lashed 13 of the 14 blocks of Malda district late last night.

Villagers in Pandua in the Gajole police station area said strong winds hit the area at night. Dhanai Mondal, a fisherman who was on his boat guarding the fish in a pond, drowned when the storm overturned the vessel.

At Chhatrak village in Harishchandrapur II block, Archana Das, a 27-year-old-widow, was buried under the debris of her mud house, which collapsed.

Archana’s son and daughter were seriously injured and were admitted to Harishchandrapur Block Hospital.

District magistrate Chittaranjan Das said more than 20,000 hectares of wheat had been destroyed by the storm. He also feared heavy damage to mango cultivation. “For mango trees, this is the flowering season. So far I could gather, there has been extensive damage to the mango tress and many of them have been uprooted,” he said.

The total loss is yet to be calculated.

“I have asked for detailed reports from all the block development officers. They have been asked to arrange relief. Additional relief and compensation would be made available on the basis of the reports,” said Das.

Although the storm did not last more than half-an-hour, it managed to uproot electrical polls and big trees as well.

Vast areas of Malda remained without electricity till late this afternoon.

Traffic was disrupted as uprooted trees blocked the roads.