Strong winds, rain destroy over 500 houses in Tripura in 3 days; worst damage reported on Monday

A senior official of the state disaster management authority told indianexpress.com that as per reports from the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC), 532 houses were damaged in the last three days due to heavy showers and thunderstorms in different parts of the state.

On Monday, Sepahijala, West Tripura, Khowai, Gomati, and South Tripura districts saw massive destruction of houses — these include 31 fully damaged houses, 157 severely damaged, and 257 partly damaged houses, apart from 49 damaged electric poles and the death of livestock.

In the South Tripura district, one cow reportedly died of lightning while another was injured in the Maicherra area.

The latest State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC) report stated that 674 houses were damaged due to different natural calamities and accidents, including heavy rainfall, thunderstorms, strong winds, and fire incidents.

On April 16, two people died after a dry tree fell during strong winds in the Dhalai district.

As per the latest reports, all rivers of the state, including Gomati, Muhuri, and Feni, which are adjoining the affected districts, are flowing below the danger level.

The devastating floods last year, which cost 38 lives apart from affecting over 17 lakh people, also incurred estimated damage worth Rs 15,000 crore across different sectors in the state, including road connectivity, power transmission, flood management infrastructure, domestic households and public infrastructure, livestock, agriculture, etc.

Last year, over 2 lakh people were shifted to 889 relief camps made operational across the state as flood waters submerged large tracts of land in all eight districts. Out of 12 rivers in the state, 11 were flowing above the danger level during floods last year, and six of them had crossed the highest water level in the history of the state.