UMERKOTE/JEYPORE: More than 100 houses were blown away and crops across several villages of Nabarangpur block were destroyed due to heavy hailstorms and thundershowers on Sunday night.
Of the affected villages, Kusumi, Dedeshpali and Badakusumi villages of Pujarguda panchayat bore the wrath of the storm even though others like Bangapali, Pujariguda, Butipadar, Behraguda in Nabarangpur block were partially affected.
Communication was disrupted after huge trees were uprooted, blocking roads and snapping the power supply to many places. Till reports last came in Kusumi, Badakusumi and Dedeshpali villages, which are two to four km from Nabarangpur town, remained cut off. Sources said, over 20 electric poles and around 15 trees have fallen on the road, disrupting traffic.
The hailstorm’s severity led to the accumulation of ice pellets on a massive scale. Hundreds of vehicles had to wait for hours on the Jeypore-Nabarangpur highway, till the road was cleared. “The hailstorm has broken our backbone as we had taken loans to cultivate crops on our lands. We are at a loss how to repay the loan and sustain a year,” said vegetable farmers Khageswar Choudhury and Radma Majhi.
After the rain, while firemen swung into action to remove trees from the road, electricity department officials were seen repairing poles and snapped wires to restore the power supply. On Monday, district officials including the BDO and tehsildar of Nabarangpur rushed to the spot to assess the crop damage.
Tehsildar Jaybrata Acharya assured to provide assistance to all affected farmers as per government norms.
Heavy rains accompanied by gusting wind also hit different parts of Koraput district causing extensive damage to houses in Jeypore, Koraput, Dasamantpur and Boipariguda blocks.