BHUBANESWAR: The tornado that tore into Rajkanika block a month back, killing 15 persons and causing widespread damage, was one of the severest twisters to have hit the country, a latest report by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) release today said.
The tornado with gale at a speed of 250 km an hour along with rains, thunderstorm and hail claimed 15 lives leaving scores injured. The system is believed to have spanned just for 10 minutes on March 31 afternoon.
The IMD report stated that the tonado ripped through the villages leaving a track which measured 600 metre in width and 6 km in length. Moving from in a northwest-to-southwest diurection, the tornado’s speed was 36 km an hour. It is, however, the accompanying gale which wreaked havoc.
The maximum wind speed in the tornado varied between 252 and 330 km per hour while the updraft speed was 252 km per hour approximately.
The nearest observatories at Chandbali, Balasore and Bhubaneswar had shown intense thunderstorm activity and strong vertical wind. The IMD report attributed development of the tornado to a well-marked trough from Jharkhand to Rayalseema across interior Orissa with strong pressure zones.
The site map developed by the IMD said that the tornado touched down at the Ostia village under Rajkanika gram panchayat passing over through several others on its 6 km path. The Baghabuda village bore the brunt of the twister, the report said.
The investigation report of the IMD revealed that fishes weighing about one to two kilogram were strewn across the villages. According to locals, these fish came from a distance of 300 to 400 metre from nearby ponds. As the tornado passed over water bodies, fishes were sucked in before being strewn in the affected zones. The IMD survey team came across the fishes.
It was reported that water level in some of the ponds along the track of the storm went down by two feet which explained water spouts in the villages.
While Rajkanika received 4 cm rain during the period, hail stones having a diamatre of 3 cm were reported.
Incidentally, of six major tornados, which according to IMD are most severe in the recent history, three have hit Orissa.
On April 10, 1978, at least 150 persons were killed by one such tornado that struck Purunabandha in Keonjhar district. In 1998, a twister killed 160 people in West Bengal and bordering Orissa when it ripped through 20 coastal villages on March 24.
The March 31 tornado was the third one.