Thaindian News

Aizawl/Agartala, May 26 (IANS) Seasonal cyclonic rainstorms have badly affected power supply and surface transport in the northeastern states of Mizoram and Tripura since Monday, officials said Thursday. Damage to houses, shops and vehicles was also reported, while at least 10 people were injured in Tripura.

A large part of Mizoram remained in the dark as power transmission lines snapped and surface communication with several districts remained cut off for the past four days due to heavy rains coupled with strong winds.

Engineers and workers have been working round the clock to restore both electric supply and vehicular movement in the mountainous state.

“Heavy rains accompanied by strong winds, since Monday, triggered landslides in Armed Veng South area of Aizawl,” Aizawl police chief Lalbiakthanga Khiangte told reporters.

He said that many houses, small cars, two-wheelers and road side shops were damaged in the torrential rains, whose intensity only reduced since late Wednesday night.

Mizoram’s power department officials said that the electricity transmission lines, which imports power from the northeastern grids in southern Assam, snapped near Mualmam, about 45 km west of Aizawl, affecting the electricity supply in many parts of the state.

“Our engineers and workers are working hard to restore the power supply at the earliest,” a power department official said.

The pre-monsoon rains accompanied by strong winds and hailstorm damaged more than 600 houses and killed many cattle in western and southern Tripura since Monday.

Ten people who were hurt in these incidents have been shifted to government hospitals, a west Tripura district official said.

Hundreds of trees, telephone and electric poles were uprooted in the squall, badly affecting the movement of vehicles in the cyclone-affected areas.

“Civil defence workers and district officials are busy providing relief. Telecommunication and power corporation personnel are working to restore communication lines and power supply,” the official said.

Meteorological department director Dilip Saha told IANS: “The seasonal Nor’wester (cyclonic rainstorm) would continue till the onset of monsoon next month. The recurring Nor’wester is now active in entire eastern and northeast India and few other places in the country.”