Cyclone / 10-12 have died due to Cyclone Amphan, impact worse than COVID-19: Mamata

New Delhi: Soon after making landfall, the extremely severe cyclonic storm Amphan with winds of up to 190 kmph rampaged through the coastal state of Odisha and West Bengal on Wednesday. Dumping heavy rain and swamping homes and farmlands across two states, the cyclone left at least three people dead in West Bengal.

In the state, a man and a woman were reportedly killed when trees fell on them in North 24 Parganas district. On the other hand, a 13-year-old girl died in a similar incident in adjoining Howrah district. However, no casualties have been reported from Odisha so far.

Addressing a press conference in the evening, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed that at least 10 to 12 people have lost their lives in the disaster.

“Area after area has been ruined. I have experienced a war-like situation today. At least 10-12 people have died. Nandigram, Ramnagar– the two districts of North and South 24 Parganas are destroyed,” she said. The chief minister was monitoring the situation from the state secretariat.

The cyclone made landfall at 2.30 PM between Digha in West Bengal and Hatiya island in Bangladesh, and soon after that, it uprooted trees and electric poles in Bengal.

As per updates, nearly 6.58 lakh people were evacuated in both the states before the cyclone made the landfall. Reports said that over 5500 houses were damaged by the cyclone.

“The forward sector of the wall cloud region is entering into land in West Bengal. The intensity of the cyclone near its centre as the landfall process started was recorded at 160-170 kmph, gusting to 190 kmph,” the IMD said.

On the other hand, the NDRF said that 20 teams of the federal disaster response force had already started road-clearing operations in Odisha, while 19 units deployed in West Bengal were shifting people to safer places.

As per TV footage, gigantic tidal waves were crashing into a seawall in Digha, close to the landfall site, and thick sheets of rain blurred the vast coastline in the two states.

According to another video clip, which was shared on social media, an under-construction Kolkata skyscraper showed huge aluminium sheets flying like bird feathers in the air.

Reports coming from North and South 24 Parganas and East Midnapore said roofs of thatched houses were blown away, electric poles got twisted and hundreds of trees were broken and uprooted. Streets and homes in low lying areas of Kolkata were swamped with rainwater.

Alipore area in central Kolkata recorded a massive 222 mm of rainfall and Dumdum 194 mm between 8 AM and 8:30 PM.

Almost the entire city of Kolkata plunged into the darkness since the evening as electric supply either got snapped due to rain and wind or was suspended as a precautionary measure. Cell phone services were also disrupted in a number of places due to the cyclone.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the enormity of the devastation will become clearer by Thursday when the storm will have passed over the state.

On the other hand, intense rainfall was recorded in several areas of Odisha such as Puri, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Kendrapara, Jajpur, Ganjam, Ganjam, Bhadrak and Balasore districts since Tuesday.

To take stock of the situation, the Odisha government has asked collectors of the districts affected by cyclone ‘Amphan’ to submit preliminary assessment reports on the damage caused by the disaster within two days.

In Odisha, the cyclone has caused damage to some government buildings and structures, affected agriculture and horticulture sectors, houses and power infrastructure.

As per preliminary reports, 19,38,382 power consumers have been affected in Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajapur, Mayurbhanj, Jagatsinghpur and Ganjam districts.