A nor’wester lashed the port city and different upazilas in the district, uprooting several trees and electric poles on Monday afternoon.

The uprooted trees and electric poles caused the suspension of traffic movement on many roads and highways in the city and district.

Moreover, the heavy rain during the nor’wester also inundated low-lying areas of the city, causing suffering to commuters.

Accompanied by heavy thunderstorms, the nor’wester blew with significant speed. It started lashing the city at around 3:15pm and lasted till 4:15pm.

Met Office in the city’s Patenga area recorded a total of 129mm rainfall in 24 hours till 6pm and 97.7mm rainfall from 3pm to 6pm on Monday, said Meghanath Tounchoggya, assistant meteorologist and duty forecasting officer of the Met Office.

He forecasted that rain accompanied by temporary gusty wind may occur at some places in the next 24 hours from the 6pm on Monday. The met office asked to hoist riverine warning signal-2 for the inland river port in Chattogram.

Normal life came to a halt during the nor’wester as people got stranded in houses, offices and roadside shops.

Students of educational institutions and their guardians were the worst sufferers of the situation due to a shortage of transport and waterlogging in some areas.

The low-lying areas of the city, including EPZ, Satlgola, Nimtala, Barik Building Mor, Mogoltuli, Sholoshahar Gate-2, Muradpur, Bahoddarhat, Kapasgola, Katalganj and Bakolia were inundated in the heavy rainfall. 

Khairul Anwar, a student of Chittagong University, said he remained stranded in a city service bus for around two and a half hours due to the waterlogging at Muradpur. “Vehicular movement through the road came to a halt causing hundreds of passengers to remain stuck for hours,” he added.

Trees and electric poles also fell in the city’s Jakir Hossain Road, Jamal Khan and SS Khaled Road areas. Power supply in some areas of the city and district was also hampered due to the uprooted trees and electric poles. However, members of the Fire Service and Civil Defence, Power Department and workers of Chattogram City Corporation were working to restore the road communication and power supply.