Strong winds, hailstorm damage houses, fruit crops in Kashmir

Srinagar/April,22: Strong winds and hailstorm for about an hour followed by heavy rain last night damaged houses, fruit and vegetable crops besides disrupted power supply in many areas in the Kashmir valley, including summer capital, Srinagar.
Roof tops of about a dozen houses were blown away and a number of trees and electric poles were uprooted due to strong winds. Traffic on Srinagar-Charar-e-Sharief road was also disrupted though authorities have pressed into service machines and men to remove trees.
Panic gripped in Srinagar, particularly in the uptown due to strong winds followed by hailstorm for about an hour last night.
Interestingly there was only moderate to light rainfall in the civil lines, including historic Lal Chowk, and down town.
Entire uptown, including Chanapora, Natipora, Rambagh, Barzulla, Bagh-e-Mehtab, Sanant Nagar, Baghat-e-Barzulla, Parraypora and several areas plunged into darkness since last night.
Officials said that roof tops of about a dozen houses were blown away due to strong winds. Transmission lines were also damaged after electric poles and trees were uprooted.
Authorities have pressed into service machines and men to remove uprooted trees and electric poles on Srinagar-Charar-e-Sharief road. Efforts are being made to restore the power supply in the uptown which remained suspended since last night.
Reports of damage to houses due to winds were also received from south Kashmir, including Anantnag.
Hailstorm had also badly damaged fruit and vegetable crops, they said.
However, there was no report of any loss of life or injury so far.