Cyclone Yaas wreaks havoc in Bengal
CM Mamata says at least 10 million people have been affected and 300k houses damaged due to rough weather conditions
THE WEST BENGAL GOVERNMENT HAS EVACUATED OVER 1.5 MILLION PEOPLE FROM VULNERABLE AREAS TO SAFETY SO FAR
DIGHA/ KOLKATA: At least 10 million people were affected and three lakh houses damaged in West Bengal due to the rough weather conditions arising out of cyclone ‘Yaas’, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on Wednesday. One person died “accidentally” when he had gone out fishing, she said.
Rising river water levels due to the landfall of cyclone ‘Yaas’ have inundated large parts of West Bengal’s coastal districts of Purba Medinipur and South 24 Parganas on Wednesday, as sea waves were seen touching coconut tree-tops and cars floating in floodwaters.
“I will soon be undertaking an aerial survey of the affected areas in Purba Medinipur, South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas districts,” Banerjee said.
As of now, the government has a preliminary idea of the damage caused, from the reports provided by the district magistrates and other senior officials, the CM said.
Cautioning people that high tide in seas, caused by the storm surge, would persist, Banerjee claimed that Bengal happens to be the “most-affected state”.
Cyclone ‘Yaas’ made its landfall on Wednesday morning near Dhamra port in Odisha, at 130-140 kmph, gusting to 155 kmph, according to Doppler radar data.
The chief minister further said that as many as 15,04,506 people have been evacuated from the vulnerable areas in the state and moved to safer places.
The seaside towns of Digha and Mandarmoni in Purba Medinipur and Fraserganj and Gosaba in South 24 Parganas were among the areas affected by a storm surge of more than 2 metres above the astronomical tide level. “We will be conducting field surveys to get a final estimate... It will take us at least 72 hours to get a clearer idea,” she added.
Army, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and state police and civil defence volunteers were working round-the-clock to move people to safety. The Army has deployed 17 columns to assist the state administration, of which one rescued 32 stranded civilians at Digha, a Defence official said.
The MET Department has forecast extremely heavy rainfall on Wednesday in Purba and Paschim Medinipur districts and heavy to very heavy rainfall in Jhargram, Bankura, South 24 Parganas districts.
Heavy rain will occur at isolated places in Purulia, Nadia, Murshidabad, Purba Bardhaman, Howrah, Hooghly, Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts owing to the effect of ‘Yaas’, the weatherman said.
In 24 hours till 8.30 am, Digha received 5.5 cm rainfall, Diamond Harbour got 3.3 cm rainfall, Haldia 3.2 cm rainfall.
Kolkata got 2.24 cm rainfall, Salt Lake received 3.05 cm rain, Contai got 5.42 cm rain and Kalaikunda received 2.2 cm rainfall. The West Bengal government has evacuated over 1.5 million people from vulnerable areas to safety so far.
Meanwhile, the cyclone put the Kolkata port authorities on tenterhooks for some time as the rising water of the Hooghly river surpassed the height of the external lock gate of its Haldia Dock System, leading the draught level to go up to around eight metres on Wednesday, an official said.
However, water entered into the lock barrel the area between external and internal lock gates for not more than 30 minutes and no damage was done to ships or assets of the Haldia Dock system in Purba Medinipur district, port chairman Vinit Kumar said.
Lock gates help Haldia dock to maintain the required draught level at berths. Being a riverine port, the level of draught (the depth of water required to float a ship) is very crucial for ships coming in and going out of the facility. Kumar, who was in Kolkata, and Union shipping minister Mansukh Mandaviya from Delhi were monitoring the cyclone situation to ensure that prompt action is taken in case of any eventuality, officials said.
“The situation is well under control. All ships and equipment assets are secured. There is no casualty. Water seeped into the barrel and the tide led the draught to rise to eight meters while the height of the lock gate is seven meters,” Kumar told PTI. However, an official of the Haldia Dock said that they were on tenterhooks for some time but the problem was temporary.
“There was no major problem. Pumps are pressed into service to drain out the extra water,” he said.