Pre-monsoon rain takes its toll in city, State

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, April 16: Heavy downpour, including hailstorm and lightning, has paralysed life in the State and the city, including the killing of five people. The people of Guwahati had to switch on their electric lights around 10.15 am and at noon today when the city was covered under a blanket of thick cloud. So much so that, today the city had the taste of the first wave of artificial floods even as the monsoon is around two months away.

Pre-monsoon rains in the State have been very frequent this year. The situation has been worsened by the hailstorms accompanying such rains. Guwahati has been lashed many a time this month. In many areas power connections are being spped every now and then. Roofs of houses have been blown off in many areas. According to sources in the Department of Meteorology, there has been as much as 35.4 mm rainfall in the city from 8.30 am to 2.30 pm today, and there will be such rainfall in the next five days.  

Heavy rain is also out to dampen the festivity in this Rongali Bihu. Bihu pandals are also among the structures that face the wrath of storms in the city.   

Flash floods have been regular in Guwahati. This is such an evil that continues to remind the people of the State of the non-performance on the part of the Congress in its 15-year rule in the State. Flash floods today inundated areas like RG Baruah Road, Anil gar, bin gar, Lachit gar, Mother Teresa Road at Noonmati, Vidyalaya Path at Noonmati, Hatigaon etc.

Heavy downpour, hailstorm and lightning are also reported from elsewhere in the State. Besides the death of five people in lightning and hailstorm, hundreds of others have to be roofless in the State. While two persons were killed in hailstorm and lighting in Mariani, one was killed in Kaziranga, and two in Hailakandi district. Dhing, Goalpara, Chhaygaon and Rani have been ravaged by hailstorm today.