18 dead as Hudhud tail stings UP with heavy rains

The tail of Cyclone Hudhud lashed Uttar Pradesh with heavy rains over the last two days, leaving 18 people dead and causing widespread destruction, officials said on Wednesday.

Lucknow alone received 61.1 mm of rainfall on Tuesday, leaving vast areas in the capital waterlogged while gusty winds snapped powerlines, plunging large areas into darkness.

Tuesday’s rainfall erased the single-day rainfall record of 46.1 mm dating back to October 7, 2009.

The unseasonal rains were attributed to the effects of Cyclone Hudhud which had hit the coastal states of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha on Sunday, leaving a trail of death and destruction.

Though the tropical storm lost much of its intensity as it moved inland, Hudhud still retained enough of the moisture it had sucked out of Bay of Bengal to dump heavy rains in Uttar Pradesh as well as neighbouring Bihar.

A state government spokesperson confirmed the 18 deaths, adding that many houses were damaged and standing crops destroyed in the eastern part of the state.

Though the rains eased on Wednesday, the effects of Hudhud was expected to be felt for the next two days, JP Gupta, the regional met director, said.

Many low-lying localities in Lucknow alongwith the Charbagh railway station, Thakurganj, Indiranagar, Gomtinagar, Chowk, Sitapur Road, Aliganj were water-logged, officials said.

The maximum rains recorded since Tuesday was in Gorakhpur which received as much as 142.1 mm in a single day with wind speed touching 83 kmph.

Allahabad and Varanasi too witnessed heavy rainfall.

The wet weather also brought down the mercury across the state with day temperatures falling by as much as 10 degree Celsius in Lucknow to 22.5 degrees on Tuesday.

In neighbouring Bihar, three people were killed and 50 injured as heavy rain lashed the state, authorities said Wednesday.

An official of the state disaster management department said one person was killed each in Muzaffarpur, Madhubani and Darbhanga districts on Tuesday.

The remnants of Hudhud hit Nepal hard on Wednesday, triggering snowfall and avalanches which killed at least 24 people including foreigners.