‘I saw a washing machine flying, and an iron gate as well’: Villager recalls Fazilka tornado
The tornado damaged at least 55 houses and left eight people injured on Friday.
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Few damaged houses of Bukainwala.“It was around half past three or quarter to four and I was standing along with my friend when all of a sudden the sky became milky white. There was complete silence and the next moment it became all dark with high-intensity winds blowing. I am 40 and had not seen such a storm before,” Karam Singh of Bukainwala recalled the tornado that struck his village in Punjab’s Fazilka district on Friday.
Around 400ft wide, the tornado struck a 3km area and damaged at least 55 houses, 10-12 of them badly. Eight people were admitted to hospitals with injuries, according to officials.
“I saw a washing machine flying high in the sky. And an iron gate as well. The storm blew almost everything in its way… There were dangerous noises as well. It was like seven or eight aeroplanes were passing over the roof of my house,” Karam said, adding that it lasted for about 30 seconds.
“My friend and I were standing under a shed meant for animals. We quickly came out and tightly hugged each other and within seconds I saw the shed collapsing in front of me. The animals were outside then. Our boundary wall too collapsed and I saw the house of our neighbour Mahinder Singh collapsing in front of me…,” said the man, who runs a mobile repair shop.
Mahinder Singh, a daily-wage worker, his wife and two sons aged 12-14 years have been admitted to the Abohar civil hospital. He was taken out of the debris of his home after about an hour, while his wife was taken out in a few minutes after the storm.
Harjinder Kumar, sarpanch of the village, said many rushed to Mahinder’s home after
Karam Singh shouted for help.
Amarjeet Singh, a farmer whose boundary wall was damaged, is also in a state of shock. “A part of the terrace roof of my house fell off. The storm has also caused loss to crops,” he said. An iron rod of the collapsed wall injured his buffalo.
Bukainwala has about 5,000 residents and around 1,000 houses but damage was limited to the village’s outskirts. “The severely damaged houses belong to labourers,” said Harjinder.
This village has about 2,900 acres of farm land, out of which nearly 1,500 have kinnow orchards. While crops in about 400 acres were damaged according to the sarpanch, the agriculture department is still assessing the extent of damage.
Raj Kumar, a farmer, said his kinnow orchard of about 2.5 acres was damaged. “This orchard was about 20 years old and hardly any fruit plant is left now,” he said.
The sarpanch said that Sudama Kohli, another farmer, had his kinnow orchards and wheat crop destroyed in the tornado.
The villagers here also grow black gram, moong and a little bit of paddy.
“We are just 2 km away from the Pakistan border. We could see the tornado going towards the Pakistan side. I do not know what it did there or if it ended here itself, close to the border,” said Pardeep Singh Sandhu, another farmer.
With many electricity poles uprooted and electric meters damaged, Bukainwala and adjoining villages are powerless, even more than 24 hours after the tornado struck.
Deputy commissioner Senu Duggal told The Indian Express that immediate relief teams had reached the village. “We have opened a school for those people whose homes were damaged. The local gurdwara sahib management has arranged a langar near the affected area. I have told the tehsildar to arrange ration for the gurdwara as per their requirements. PSPCL is working to restore electricity supply. I have constituted two different committees to assess damage to crops and houses.”
However, villagers are reluctant to shift to the school. So the authorities have decided to provide them with tents that they can erect on their verandahs till some relief is provided. Videography of the damaged houses and crops was done on Saturday.
Dr Manmohan Singh, director of the India Meteorological Department in Chandigarh, said that local teams would be assessing the intensity of the winds in the area. “Apparently, it was a localised tornado in a particular area of the village. As tornadoes are spiralling winds touching the base of the ground and high in the sky as well, they do generate hail as an after-effect,” he said. “Hailstorms in the surrounding districts of Muktsar, Barnala, Ferozepur, Mansa and Bathinda can be an aftereffect of the tornado,” he said.
“Our village has a few Army officers and government employees, but largely we are dependent on agriculture. A number of villagers have taken land on lease from the owners who live in Jammu. Now Bukainwala will be famous for this tornado as well…Thankfully we all are safe,” said Pardeep, the farmer.
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