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Cyclone Amphan Causes Misery In West Bengal; 12 Dead, Electricity, Internet Disrupted

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ODISHA/WEST BENGAL: Thousands of houses were blown away and several electric poles uprooted as the cyclone battered West Bengal, with coastal districts of South and North 24 Parganas and East Midnapore being the worst affected.

At least 12 people have been killed in the state and the number was expected to go up. Kolkata has also witnessed massive damage with buildings being collapsed, trees uprooted on almost every road and water being logged after the heavy rains. The internet is also down in many areas.

Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly, North and South 24 Parganas districts and their nearby areas bore the brunt of the natural calamity.

Kolkata suffered from massive damages to buildings including some reports of structures collapsing after cyclone Amphan made landfall yesterday. Uprooted trees were found on almost every road today morning amid massive waterlogging after Kolkata received 222 mm of rainfall yesterday.

Power is yet to be restored at most places and internet services are mostly down.

The crops have also been destroyed, farmlands inundated and embankments breached at many places, leading to water from rivers and sea gushing in. Massive damage is apprehended in the Sunderbans Delta that could have long-term effects on the ecosystem.

Cyclonic Storm Amphan crossed West Bengal coast this morning and moved towards Bangladesh. Packing winds of up to 190 kmph, Amphan rampaged through coastal Odisha and West Bengal yesterday.

The most powerful cyclone to form over the Bay of Bengal in over two decades, Amphan made landfall at 4.30 pm yesterday.

No casualties have been reported from Odisha yet. Intense rainfall was recorded in several areas of Puri, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Kendrapara, Jajpur, Ganjam, Ganjam, Bhadrak and Balasore districts of Odisha.

At least 6.58 lakh people were evacuated in West Bengal and Odisha before the cyclone struck. NDRF chief SN Pradhan said over 5 lakh people were evacuated in West Bengal and more than 1.58 lakh in Odisha.

20 NDRF teams have begun road clearing operations in Odisha, while 19 teams are shifting people to safety in West Bengal.

Amphan moved north-northeastwards with a speed of 28 kilometres per hour during the past six hours. It lay centred over Bangladesh and adjoining West Bengal as a Severe Cyclonic Storm about 110 kilometres northeast of Kolkata.

It is very likely to continue to move north-northeastwards and weaken further into a Cyclonic Storm during the next six hours.

Light to moderate rainfall will occur at most places in West Bengal with heavy to very heavy falls at a few places over Malda and Dinajpur districts during next six hours and over most of the districts of Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim today.

Rainfall is likely at most places with heavy falls at isolated places over Meghalaya during next six hours and heavy to very heavy falls at a few places over the western districts of Assam and Meghalaya today.



from League of India

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