Cyclone Amphan: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the impact of Amphan was worse than the coronavirus pandemic and claimed damages due to the cyclone could be in the region of Rs 1 lakh crore.
Kolkata, May 21:
Cyclone Amphan, one of the worst storms over the Bay of Bengal in years, has killed 12 people in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Wednesday. The powerful cyclone destroyed thousands of homes, leaving authorities struggling to mount relief efforts amid the coronavirus crisis. Bengal took the brunt of Cyclone Amphan, which barreled into the coast with gusting winds of up to 185 km per hour. Ms Banerjee said the impact of Amphan was worse than the coronavirus pandemic and claimed damages due to the cyclone could be in the region of Rs 1 lakh crore. Over five lakh people had been taken to shelters in Bengal and over one lakh in Odisha.
At least two districts – North and South 24 Parganas districts- have been the worst-hit by one of the strongest storms to hit the region in several years.
“Sarbanash hoye galo (It is a catastrophe)…Communications are disrupted,” said Mamata Banerjee, who remained in her office during the storm, adding that although 5 lakh people had been evacuated, state authorities had not entirely anticipated the ferocity of the storm. With rains continuing, she said the hardest hits areas were not immediately accessible.
“I am sitting in the war room. My office in Nabanna is shaking. I am tackling a difficult situation on a war footing. The storm is likely to continue till midnight,” Ms Banerjee said in a statement on Wednesday night.
The Kolkata airport, which remains shut, was left flooded and many structures within damaged.
In state capital Kolkata, strong winds upturned cars and felled trees and electricity poles. Parts of the city were plunged into darkness. The streets were waterlogged and trees uprooted.Kolkata and several other districts faced power outages at night, with power supply restored only late at night.
Amphan lay about 270 km north-northeast of Kolkata as of 5:30 am today, the weather department said. It is very likely to continue to move in that direction and weaken further into a deep depression during the next three hours and into a depression in the subsequent six hours, the Met office said.
National Disaster Response Force chief SN Pradhan said the storm is “a double challenge” for the country amid fight against coronavirus
With the sea set to remain rough today, fishermen have been advised not to venture into north Bay of Bengal and off north Odisha and Bengal.
Cyclone Amphan is only the second “super cyclone” to form over the Bay of Bengal since records began, and the first since 1999. Odisha was hit by a super cyclone that left nearly 10,000 dead in 1999.
“Amphan”, pronounced as “Um-pun”, means sky. The name was given by Thailand in 2004, years ago. The storm is being constantly tracked by Doppler Weather Radar at Visakhapatnam.
