One storm, and scores of broken trees and snapped cables — the familiar sight of Calcutta reeling under the impact of a not-so-unusual weather event returned on Friday.
At least five people were injured when trees fell on them, said state government sources. Seven cars were also damaged, they said.
Thousands of people out on the streets rushed to find shelter as strong winds
and rain made riding motorcycles or even driving nearly impossible.
“Trees or their branches fell in 63 locations. Forty trees were uprooted. Our teams have attended to or are attending to all the places. We have deployed men and machines to clear the trees,” Smita Pandey, commissioner of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, told Metro on Friday evening.
Three people were injured when a large tree fell inside CMRI hospital. An official of the hospital said one of them suffered head injuries and was admitted to the high-dependency unit (HDU).
“One of them was walking after parking his car when the tree fell. He was admitted to the HDU. Two others suffered minor injuries. They were given first aid and discharged,” the official said.
A motorcyclist was injured when a tree fell on him near Indira Bhavan in Salt Lake. A car parked there was also damaged. In AE Block, Salt Lake, another car was damaged in a similar incident.
Three cars and a motorcycle were damaged in Salt Lake and Lake Town, sources said. The car driver and the motorcyclist were injured when branches fell on them.
On Harish Mukherjee Road, a large tree branch fell on a moving car. The driver escaped unhurt. “I came out. The cars behind me started reversing as the tree fell. I had a narrow escape,” the driver said.
A driver was injured when a tree fell on a car in Lake Town. On Shakespeare Sarani, a parked car was damaged in another such incident.
A man in his 50s on a two-wheeler took shelter under the Metro Railway viaduct in Ruby when the storm struck. “I parked my two-wheeler and took shelter under the Metro Railway tracks. The winds were so strong they nearly flung my vehicle away,” he said. He waited nearly an hour as the storm eased but rain continued.
Across the city, decades-old trees were uprooted or lost branches, blocking roads partially in several areas.
Multiple trees fell at Rabindra Sarobar, outside Calcutta Rowing Club and Lake Club. Inside Calcutta Rowing Club, two old trees fell and damaged parts of the boundary wall.
“The security room has been completely damaged. The office of our club was also damaged,” said Chandan Roy Chowdhury, secretary of the club. A team from the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) was clearing debris late into Friday.
Fallen trees tangled with thick cables left roads hazardous, forcing vehicles and pedestrians to steer clear as no one knew which lines were live or functional.
Teams from KMC and Kolkata Police first cut branches to clear blocked roads.
On Park Street, a large tree fell on a gantry near a fast-food outlet. The tree, tangled with overhead cables, remained suspended, creating a risk zone.
A police officer said workers had to carefully trim hanging branches while traffic moved below. “It would not have been safe to leave it hanging. We are still clearing the branches,” he said in the evening.
A senior Kolkata Police officer said roads were partially blocked in several areas immediately after the storm. “No road was completely blocked. One or two lanes remained open even where trees fell. We regulated traffic through the available lanes,” he said.