Chandigarh:
Three men were killed and about 60 injured when strong winds hit several areas of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh last night, disrupting power supply and uprooting many trees.
Among those killed in the storm, which had an average wind speed of close to 70 kmph and touching 105 kmph at one point, was a college student in Chandigarh, officials said.
The 21-year-old student, who had come to drop off his friend at private college, was killed in a wall collapse, in which his friend also sustained injuries.
In another incident, a 23-year-old youth of Panchkula's Raipur Rani area, was killed after his motorcycle skidded in Barwala in Haryana district during the storm while in yet another incident, a 30-year-old man standing under a bus shelter in Mohali, Punjab, died when the shelter collapsed under the weight of a tree that fell on it.
Reports reaching Chandigarh said the storm, which lasted for about 40 minutes, also hit many areas in Punjab and Haryana including Amritsar, Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ambala, Kurukshetra and Karnal.
Around 60 people sustained injuries in the two states and Chandigarh as trees or broken branches fell on them.
The storm, which the local MeT office attributed to a Western Disturbance over the region, led to disruption in power supply in many areas.
While power supply was restored in many areas after several hours, at other places where the lines had been snapped or had got entangled in broken trees, the work to restore the supply was still going on, the officials said.