Seven killed in Tripura cyclone, lightning

Cyclonic storms accompanied by lightning and rain continued to create havoc in Tripura for the fifth day Thursday, killing seven people, including five women and injuring 20 others, an official said here.

"Sixty-year-old Ramani Debbarma and her 17-year-old-son Utpal died when huge landslides buried their home at Simna in western Tripura Wednesday night," an official of the relief department told reporters.

The Met Office in Agartala Thursday forecast a spell of rains and cyclonic storms in the next 48 hours.

"A team of officials and workers under supervision of Sub-Divisional Magistrate Dhiraj Debbarma were still on the job to clear the huge mudslide and to recover the bodies," the relief department official said.

Laxmirung Reang, 32, and Kusum Roy Tripura, 35, both tribal women, died after a lightning struck them late Wednesday at Sabroom in southern Tripura, 140 km south of here.

Thunder, lightning, uprooting of trees and electrical poles killed two more women in northern Tripura and at least 20 people were injured in different parts of the state as the stormy weather conditions continued in the northeastern state since Sunday.

Earlier on Monday night, Parendra Debbarma, 55, a labourer from Khowai in western Tripura, died when his house wall collapsed and fell on him.

"Thousands of trees, telephone and electric poles were uprooted, badly affecting electricity supply, telecommunication services, and movement of vehicles," the official added.

The first incessant rains in the pre-monsoon period also caused flooding and huge waterlogging in the low-lying areas of the capital city, its outskirts and other parts of the state. Several thousand people were forced to shift in several makeshift relief camps.

The government has sanctioned from Rs.1,000 to Rs.10,000 as immediate relief assistance to each affected family.

An official of the Airport Authority of India said the rough weather hit the operation of flights on the Agartala-Kolkata-Guwahati-Delhi routes.