Cyclone Yaas Affected At Least 1 Crore In WB: CM Mamata Banerjee

Cyclone Yaas after making landfall and crossing the Odisha coast on Wednesday, May 26, has devasted rural Bengal as a very severe cyclonic storm and it is expected to reach Jharkhand tomorrow morning. In West Bengal, light to moderate rainfall has been predicted today in the coastal districts of East Medinipur, North and South 24 Parganas along with Kolkata, Howrah and Hooghly due to the impact of cyclone Yaas. The  Cyclone Yaas weakened into a severe cyclonic storm on Wednesday afternoon after pounding the beach towns in north Odisha and neighbouring West Bengal with a wind speed of 130-145 kmph inundating the low-lying areas amid a storm surge even as the two eastern states battled the Covid crisis, officials said. Three lakh houses have suffered damage in Bengal due to rough weather conditions arising out of Cyclone Yaas, says chief minister Mamata Banerjee. At least one crore people in the state were affected by rough weather conditions and high tide arising out of the storm.  The rising river water levels due to the landfall of the cyclone Yaas has inundated large parts of Bengal’s coastal districts of Purba Medinipur and South 24 Parganas. Sea waves were seen touching coconut tree-tops and cars floating in floodwaters. Jharkhand has been put on high alert. Yaas would be hitting the state by midnight after neighbouring Odisha and West Bengal, officials said. Rescue and rehabilitation operations are being executed on war-footing in the vulnerable areas of  East and West Singhbhum, besides some other districts, in view of the very severe cyclonic storm Yaas, Disaster Management Secretary of Jharkhand  Amitabh Kaushal told. “We are witnessing high-speed wind and have evacuated about 6,000 people from thatched houses and danger zones to shelter homes in safer locations,” East Singhbhum Deputy Commissioner Suraj Kumar said. The  West Bengal Govt has been making all necessary arrangements in view of Yaas. A Control room has been set up in the annex building of the state secretariat from where the Chief Minister is monitoring the overall situation. Helpline numbers have also been made functional by separate departments including State Disaster Management and state health department. Image courtesy: ANI. Edited by PK Chakravarty