Tornado in Uttara

A violent storm struck the Ijtema ground and swept over the adjacent Tongi-Uttara area at about 12:45pm, on 7 October, pounding almost everything that fell in its course within barely three minutes. October 9^th I made a visit to the area. It was so clear to that a storm had hit them.

The twister moved over the road and destroyed shanties on both side of the road. The tree tops were gone and many uprooted trees lying on the side of the road. I asked someone to tell me what he saw.   

“I was teaching 50 students under a tin house. I saw a fireball coming towards us in great speed. In few seconds the tin walls flew off and the roof came falling over us, it was gone in 10 seconds.” said a school teacher.

In a mighty attack of barely four minutes, the tempest killed at least eleven people and injured around 500.  

Some 50,000-60,000 people had assembled at the Biswa Ijtema ground to attend a 10-day pre-Ijtema religious function. Five Muslim devotees who had gathered at Ijtema venue died on the spot. The Ijtema ground looked like a haunted place.

"I heard a sound like takeoff of a plane suddenly and saw everything tossed in the blink of an eye," said one devotee of the spot at Tongi. He wasn’t hurt, luckily.

Thousands of devotees ran for safety getting soaked in rain. Hearing about the news of the violent storms, Red Crescent and Fire Brigade personnel, civil surgeons and volunteers of other organisations helped in rescue operation.

The nature’s fury left a trail of devastation at Dewra and Kamarpara in Tongi and Abdullahpur in the Uttara area.

[Click to enlarge photos]