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Super cyclonic storm Amphan made landfall near Sagar Islands in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal on Wednesday in which three persons were killed including a baby in Bhadrak district of Odisha and a woman in Kendrapara.
Thousands of kutcha houses in the coastal parts of West Bengal were damaged. Embankments were breached in the low-level areas because of the massive storm surge. According to the Preliminary reports, one person each died in Minakha and Basirhat of North 24 Parganas district and a third in Howrah.
Bandyopadhyay who is a senior official at the Alipore centre revealed that the wind speeds of 150-160 km per hour were recorded in the coastal areas after the cyclone made a landfall. In Kolkata, wind speeds of 112 km per hour were recorded.
Heavy rainfall was reported across all districts of south Bengal region. The super cyclone was one of the fiercest the State has witnessed in recent years — more powerful than Bulbul (2019) and Aila (2009).
“The trajectory of Amphan is conforming to what we have been forecasting,” M. Mohapatra, Director-General of the India Meteorological Department, said to the media.
Entire south Bengal is hit. South Bengal is finished. I would request [the Centre] to provide humanitarian relief and not to engage in any politics,” said Ms. Banerjee.
The West Bengal government has evacuated three lakh people, two lakh from South 24 Parganas alone.
Restrictions have been imposed on the movement of people in Kolkata and adjoining areas, and ferry services have been suspended in the Hooghly. The Kolkata Airport has suspended the movement of cargo flights for Wednesday.
