Surat: Four villages affected due to high-speed winds in Olpad

Bhadol was majorly affected among four villages, as roofs of 60 houses blew into the air in halpativaas, Patelwadi, etc areas in the villages. The roofs of village government primary school toilet kitchen also blew into the air.

The villagers were enjoying the Diwali festival with their family members, and were passing the good time when high-speed winds started blowing, which also brought rainfall. With no roof, the life of people were miserable and they were seen holding different household items to prevent it getting blown off in the air. Many people took shelter to pucca houses in the village. After ten minutes the winds turned into normal speed and rainfall stopped, the villagers were seen carrying out repairing work.

Sources said that due to the high-speed winds, the power supply in the village was disrupted as the electric poles were damaged and got bend. People were seen praying for their safety. However, the rainfall also had damaged the standing crop of rice and cotton in the village.

On Wednesday, Olpad BJP MLA Mukesh Patel, after learning about the incident reached the affected villages and met the affected villagers and assurance all the possible help to be given to them. After sometime in the afternoon, under the leadership of Assistant Taluka Development officer Himanshu Patel, different teams were made and it reached to the Bhadol, ka drama, Ethan, and Pardikoba and assessed the loss. The officials filled the forms to prepare the loss bored by the villagers. Later in the afternoon, a team of agricultural department with Surat district Panchayat also reached to all the villages to access the damage to the crops due to the rainfall. Both the teams will prepare their report of losses in the next couple of days.

Assistant Taluka Development officer of Olpad taluka, Himanshu Patel said, “Over 60 houses in Bhadol village, 7 houses in Ethan village, a poultry farm in Pardikoba village and 9 houses in Kadrama, were damaged to the high-speed winds. The roofs of the houses blew off in the air, leaving the people on toes. The cattle shed in Bhadol was also damaged, while the roofs of government primary school in Kadrama and Bhadol also was damaged. We are assessing the loss.”

BJP MLA of Olpad Mukesh Patel, said, “I visited the villages and met the affected villagers who had faced loss to their houses and crops. The district Panchayat teams are carrying out a survey and we will make representations to the state government for compensation to the affected villagers.”