At least four people were killed as several coastal towns of north Odisha and neighbouring West Bengal were ravaged by Cyclone Yaas after it made landfall in Odisha on Wednesday morning. While three died in Odisha, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that a person, who was initially rescued, died “accidentally” later in the state.
Cyclone Yaas, which started at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, crossed the 69-hour life cycle and ended at 5:30 a.m. Thursday. The cyclone has been losing strength since making landfall on Wednesday morning.
The low pressure that had developed near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal gradually increased in strength and turned into Cyclone Yaas on Monday morning. Since then, it has gradually increased in strength, first becoming a “strong cyclone” and then a “very strong cyclone”. The cyclone hit the land south of Baleshwar in Orissa around 9:15 am on Wednesday
The process of hitting the ground is over; Cyclone Yaas is slowly losing strength. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said that at least one crore people in the state were affected by rough weather conditions and high tide arising out of the storm. Three lakh houses have suffered damage. Cyclone Yaas damaged large parts of Bengal’s coastal districts of Purba Medinipur and South 24 Parganas, as sea waves were seen touching coconut tree-tops and cars floating in water. Civil and military authorities had made widespread arrangements to tackle the impact of Cyclone Yaas, which made landfall in Odisha Wednesday morning and brought heavy rainfall to West Bengal.
In West Bengal, authorities said that around 1,100 villages had been flooded by the storm, leaving at least 50,000 homeless. “But the figure may rise as reports are yet to reach us from interior areas,” state minister Bankim Hazra told Reuters.
Cylone Yaas left of a trail of destruction in Odisha’s Balasore and Bhadrak districts where the severe cyclonic storm made landfall on Wednesday morning. Trees, branches and roofs were seen flying as the wind swept at 150 kmph. In Odisha, around 120 villages had been swamped by heavy rain and sea water whipped up by the cyclone, but people in most areas had already been moved to storm shelters, the state›s top bureaucrat, Suresh Mahapatra, told Reuters.
Meanwhile, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee led from the front to fight the impact of Cyclone Yaas. After spending about 30 hours at the state chief secretariat, Banerjee left “Nabanna” at 5.20 pm on Wednesday. Just as Banerjee had kept an eye from the control room on the overall situation during Cyclone Amphan, she monitored Cyclone Yaas’ movements from the control room. She left for Kalighat this afternoon after continuous monitoring of the situation.
The weather office has forecast light to heavy rains in several parts of South Bengal tomorrow as well. On Tuesday, Banerjee had come to “Nabanna” around 11 pm. The leader spent the whole night like a vigilant watchman, keeping an eye on Yaas’ movements all the time. Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay was also present with the Chief Minister for a long time. He spent most of the last 30 hours, meeting with several district magistrates and police superintendents. Meanwhile, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar came to “Nabanna” on Tuesday evening. He sat in the control room and checked the state›s Yass preparations. Before returning home from “Nabanna” on Wednesday, Banerjee said that she would survey the affected areas by air, adding that though West Bengal witnessed partial impact of the cyclone, it affected about 10 million people. About 3 lakh houses have been damaged, she said said. She will visit South 24 Parganas and East Midnapore to check the situation and hold meetings from time to time.
WITH AGENCY INPUTS