A powerful thunderstorm accompanied by rain hit various parts of Uttarakhand, uprooting trees and killing at least four people in separate incidents, officials said on Wednesday.
Two people, including a child, were killed in Haridwar district while the Pauri and Nainital districts recorded one fatality each in the storm that hit the state late on Tuesday, they said.
A child was killed and three were injured when a 100-year-old peepal tree uprooted by the storm fell on them in the Jwalapur area of Haridwar district, Senior Superintendent of Police Ajay Singh said.
In a separate incident, a pilgrim from Sonepat in Haryana was killed when a tree fell on him in the Chamgadar Tapu area near Haridwar's Har ki Pairi, Singh said.
Besides a large number of trees, electric poles were also uprooted, causing prolonged power outages in many areas of Haridwar, he said. Several hoardings were also blown away.
The thunderstorm also uprooted trees and electric poles in the Pauri district.
Manjit Singh Aswal was killed and his wife injured when a tree fell on the couple near the Buddha Park in Kotdwar, the police said.
According to the police, in the Haldwani area of Nainital district, Uttarakhand High Court lawyer Tanuj Semwal was killed when a tree fell on his car.
The thunderstorm uprooted trees in Dehradun as well, officials here said.
