A storm that struck Chapakhowa in Assam’s Tinsukia district around 2am on Tuesday killed a worker, damaged homes and blocked nearly a kilometre of NH-115, disrupting road traffic and power supply in the area.
Shiva Shankar Shah, 47, who worked at a potato godown in Chapakhowa, died after a tree fell on the building and trapped him beneath the debris. Shah, a resident of Dhola, is survived by his wife and two children, according to the Times of India report.
The storm uprooted trees, snapped power lines and damaged residential structures. With electricity cut off, residents attempted to rescue Shah in darkness and difficult conditions. One resident quoted in the report said it took about half an hour to pull him out from under the debris.
The fallen trees also prevented an ambulance from reaching the location. Residents arranged a private vehicle to take Shah to hospital. The resident said they waited for 15 to 20 minutes for a doctor to arrive, but Shah had already died by then.
The incident highlights how storm damage can simultaneously affect buildings, electricity networks, road access and emergency response in smaller urban and semi-urban settlements. In Chapakhowa, the obstruction on NH-115 halted traffic and left commuters stranded, while the power outage made rescue operations more difficult.
The storm also damaged houses in Tupsinga village. Strong winds blew away tin roofs, and one family was forced to take shelter in a neighbouring house after its own home was damaged. That neighbouring house was also affected, according to the report.
The combination of blocked roads and damaged power infrastructure created a chain of disruption beyond the immediate structural damage. With fallen trees covering nearly one kilometre of the highway, regular movement was interrupted. At the same time, the outage reduced visibility and limited residents’ ability to respond quickly at the site where Shah was trapped.
The account from residents also shows the importance of last-mile emergency access during extreme weather events. Although the report does not provide details of an official rescue or road-clearance operation, it records that local people took responsibility for extracting Shah and arranging transport to hospital when the ambulance could not reach the spot.
The storm’s impact extended across both public infrastructure and private housing. NH-115 was blocked, power lines were damaged and several residential structures were affected, while the death at the potato godown showed the risks faced by workers inside buildings during severe weather. The report did not state the total number of damaged houses or the duration of the power disruption.
The immediate next steps will involve clearing the blocked stretch of NH-115, restoring power connections and assessing damage to homes and other structures in Chapakhowa and Tupsinga village. Further details on the official response and the extent of the disruption were not available in the supplied report.
