At least 15 people were killed and several others injured when thunderstorms accompanied by lightning raged through the city and other parts of West Bengal, police said yesterday.

The storms on Thursday and Friday nights damaged at least 3,000 mud huts in villages along the eastern coast and the Sunderbans delta, uprooted hundreds of trees and destroyed crops worth millions of rupees, police said.

In Kolkata, a wall collapsed in a storm that packed 100-kilometer per hour winds, killing two people and injuring 15 others on Friday night, said S. Ahmed, the city's deputy police chief.

At least 13 others were killed and seven more injured in other parts of the coastal state on Thursday night, Inspector General of Police Chayan Mukherjee said.

Thursday's storm swept through coastal villages at a speed of 70 kilometers per hour and lasted for 15

minutes, Mukherjee said.

Two people died as they were hit by falling trees near Diamond Harbour, while lightning killed three people in West Midnapore district. Falling trees and crumbling walls killed four people in East Midnapore district, Mukherjee said.

Two more persons were drowned as a boat carrying them capsized in Howrah district, he added.