A sudden storm occurred at Nagrakata block in Jalpaiguri and damaged nearly 7,000 hutments and houses on Saturday night.

The power supply snapped in most of the areas because of the storm and the drinking water supply got disrupted. Officials of the block have started distributing relief among the affected families and teams have been engaged to clear the debris.

“The storm, coupled with hail, has damaged homes in five panchayat areas of the block. During preliminary estimation, it has been found that 6,830 hutments and houses have been damaged. We are putting all efforts to provide necessary help to the families,” said Nagrakata BDO Bipul Kumar Mondal.

Among these include concrete houses with tin roofs, hutments with earthen or wooden walls, and tin roofs and hutments with earthen walls and tiled roofs.

He said the storm uprooted many trees, which in turn fell on the tin roofs of houses and on electric cables.

“This aggravated the damage and many people are staying under the open sky. Tarpaulins, food, and clothes are being provided. The power department has started removing uprooted trees,” said an official of the block.

So far, the administration has found that in the hour-long storm, houses have been damaged in Champaguri, Luksan, Sulkapara, Angrabhasa-I & II panchayats of the block.

Luksan panchayat pradhan Manoj Munda said around 2,000 houses were damaged in his area. “We distributed tarpaulins and have asked for more relief materials. There are many families who have lost furniture. Since there is no power supply, the PHE department couldn’t provide water and hundreds of people have to bank on local water bodies,” he said.

Weather experts said there was a forecast of rain and thunderstorms in north Bengal during the next few days. “Hailstorms, coupled with strong northwesterly winds, have occurred in some places. Weather conditions are likely to be similar in the next few days,” said an expert.