Week after Amphan, Kolkata struck by 96 kmph nor'wester

A nor'wester packing a wind speed of 96 km per hour lashed Kolkata and several districts of West Bengal on Wednesday evening, claiming one life a week after the state was devastated by Cyclone Amphan, officials said. The nor'wester, known as "kalbaisakhi" in local parlance, uprooted trees at Deshapriya Park, Shyambazar, Jadavpur and other places in Kolkata, bringing back the horrors of the cyclone among the people who are still grappling to get back to normal life.

The nor'wester, accompanied by moderate rain, also passed over Purulia, West Midnapore, Birbhum, Howrah and Hooghly districts, the India Meteorological Department said. One person died in lightning strike at Durgapur in West Burdwan district during the squall, disaster management department sources said.

The regional headquarters of the IMD at Alipore in central Kolkata recorded a maximum wind speed of 96 kmph at 6.23 pm, as the squall passed over the city in the north-northwesterly direction, it said. The wind speed was 86 kmph at Dum Dum near Kolkata. When Amphan struck Kolkata on the evening of May 20, the IMD had recorded a maximum wind speed of 114 kmph at Alipore and 133 kmph in Dum Dum.