202 Pedler and Crombie — On the Tornado which [No. 2, 



visited the Hooghly District on the evening of April 27th. The small 

 town which was visited is close to Serampore, and only about 16 or 17 

 miles north of Calcutta. The account is written by Mr. F. W. Duke, 

 C. S., Subdivisional officer of Serampore, and the report was submitted 

 to Mr. Toynbee, Magistrate of Hooghly, by whom it was communicated 

 to the Meteorological Department. 



The following is Mr. Duke's letter, which is dated April 28th, 1888. 



" I have the honor to report that early this morning I was informed 



by the Police that yesterday evening Bhudressur had been visited by 



a tornado, and that the Police outpost had been blown down and much 



damage, accompanied by loss of life, had been done. 



" Accompanied by the Assistant Superintendent of Police I pro- 

 ceeded to Bhudressur, and found that a tornado apparently under the 

 form of a whirlwind from right to left had entered the south-eastern 

 part of the town from the river about 8 o'clock yesterday evening. It 

 proceeded north-west by north, and having travelled about 1^ miles 

 finally left north-east about the northern part of Bhudressur disappearing 

 in the river — as it had come. The breadth of its course was about 200 

 or 300 yards on land from the shore and the centre and point of greatest 

 violence about the line of the river-bank near the Gunge. It was 

 stated that the tornado was preceded by a booming sound : its total 

 duration is estimated at from 3 to 6 minutes. The violence of the wind 

 must have been inconceivable, many large trees were blown down, and 

 the Grand Trunk Road was completely blocked by them this morning. 

 Many thatched houses, probably some score, were blown down — the tiled 

 part of the town was completly stripped, and the streets were fall of 

 fallen tiles. In the town four people were killed by the falling of houses, 

 and many more or less injured. Both the regular outpost and the 

 Police barracks entirely collapsed, all the Police papers and records 

 being buried in the outpost. Most of the constables were in the barracks 

 when they fell in, but all succeeded in struggling out, scratched and 

 bruised it is true, but without broken bones. 



" Along the river bank, however, the force of the wind had been 

 most tremendous. In several cases boats of 500 maunds' burden had 

 been picked out of the water and thrown over to the bank. I saw a 

 shattered dinghi which had been blown up on to a tree which had first 

 been partially blown down. Another dinghi had been picked out of the 

 water, blown across 15 or 20 yards of chur, and on to the upper part of 

 a high pucca-ghat. A 500 maund boat had been docked for repairs and 

 the manjhis had built a temporary shelter behind it, the boat was lifted 

 by the storm, turned on end and thrown over the shelter, crushing it to 

 nothing and killing two men in it, the boat itself being crushed out 



