Ranchi: Eight persons died in three separate incidents as rainstorm accompanied by lightning wreaked havoc in different parts of the state on Saturday.
In one of the incident that occurred in Chakulia, a 40 year-old farmer, identified as Nir Ratna Pal, died after being struck by lightning in the morning. He was in his farm when he was killed of power electrocution amid rainstorm.
In the second incident, four of a family, one Vijay Yadav, his two sons and a daughter died in Akauna village in Chatra Sadar police station area on Saturday as a mango tree fell onto a makeshift raised platform (machan). The victims were fast asleep when the large tree fell on them, killing them instantly. The bodies were sent to government hospital for postmortem examination. The three other deceased were identified as Tripal Yadav, 8, Tileshwar Kumar, 10, and Jamwanti Kumari, 12. The local MLA Janardan Paswan reached the spot and demanded job for the remaining dependent of Vijay Yadav.
The third incident occurred in Dhanbad, where three of a family, identified as Amrit Bauri, a school teacher, his father Lalu Bauri and his mother Pari Devi, died when lightning struck a tree under which they stood for shelter in the rainstorm. Local villagers blocked the Baliapur-Sindri main road after the incident demanding compensation for the next of kin of the deceased.
Normal life went haywire in Ranchi, Jamshedpur and various other parts of the state as high speed winds uprooted trees and housetops at many places. Standing crops including vegetables were destroyed in the rainstorm. Electricity supply too, suffered as trees and electricity poles and cables were brought down by the strong winds.
A large tree fell down on the road inside Jubilee Park at the Centre for Excellence end early morning as winds started blowing hard and fast. Traffic was diverted through the internal road of Jubilee Park for several hours. Power supply was also disrupted for several hours in different city parts following the storm. The wall of IS&WP company fell down due to rain. Roofs of many houses were blown away by the winds. Save for Chakulia, casualty was not reported in any other locality till late evening.