Dark clouds gather over Malda and (below) a rain-drenched street in Jalpaiguri. Pictures by Surajit Roy and Biplab Basak

May 8: Eleven people were struck by lightning and killed when a Nor’wester raged through the region this afternoon, with rain, storm and hail lashing all the six north Bengal districts. While 10, including a CPM candidate for panchayat polls, were from Malda, one was from Siliguri.

Taking a break from a hectic campaigning schedule, Habibur Rehman (42), a candidate for the Bhado gram panchayat, was having tea at a roadside stall, when the bolt from the sky struck and he died on the spot.

Lightning also killed Jagannath Mandal (55) at Kalichak, where roofs of 70 homes were blown off, and Prasenjit Saha (17) at a railway loco shed in Englishbazar, where five others were injured.

Four persons from two families were killed and six injured at Tiklichar of Mahanandatola Bilaimari gram panchayat. The dead have been identified as Abul Qasim (50), his son Kustar Sheikh and Akhtara Bibi (35) and her brother-in-law Md Gena.

Afzal Hussain (24), Md Nasiruddin (41) and Habib Baser (35) were killed while they were at a village haat (market place) at Samsi.

“So far, we have got reports of 10 deaths by lightning,” district magistrate Chittaranjan Das said. “The block-development officers have been instructed to assess the damage and submit a report,” he added. In Siliguri, Nilima Roy (20) of Sipahipara was killed on the verandah of her house.

T. Ckakraborty, the director of Jalpaiguri Regional Meteorological Office, said lightning, accompanied by rain and storm, was caused by a huge column of cumulonimbus cloud. “A column of cloud rising as high as 16km was observed over some parts of north Bengal, including Malda,” he said.

The Met-official said the thunder squall was a product of a number of factors, including two low-pressure troughs, a cyclonic circulation over north Bengal and Jharkhand, upper-air trough and moisture from the Bay of Bengal.

The total rainfall recorded at Jalpaiguri regional office for the day was 14mm while and maximum temperature was 31.9 and minimum 23.6 degrees Celsius.

Hailstorm in Buniadpur and surrounding areas in Balurghat wreaked havoc on standing boro crop. “My ten bighas of ripened paddy has been damaged,” said Bidhan Das of Shibpur.

Mango growers in Malda reported extensive damage. District mango officer Samarendranath Khanra said today’s storm is likely to bring down mango production by 10 per cent.

“As it is, the growth of the fruit was suffering because there was no rainfall last month,” Subodh Mishra, the president of Malda Mango Merchants’ Association, said. “Now the storm has brought down all the green mangoes. A good rain would have been most beneficial, but the storm has dashed all our hopes.”