Amphan cyclone hits West Bengal coast, heavy rains in Odisha and West

Kolkata/Bhubaneshwar: Amphan, the fiercest cyclone to develop in the Bay of Bengal, in 21 years, hit the West Bengal coast. Houses and properties suffered massive losses due to the winds blowing at 190 kilometres per hour and hundreds of thousands of citizens were evacuated to safer places for security reasons. The cyclone and heavy rains have claimed three lives so far.

This cyclone which was formed at a distance of 670 Kilometres from Digha in West Bengal and 520 kilometres from Paradip in the Odisha, in the Bay of Bengal, finally hit the Bengal coast. Strong winds and heavy rains had already started in some parts of West Bengal and Odisha, since Tuesday. Wednesday at around 2.30 pm, the cyclone crossed the islands of Digha in West Bengal and Hatia in Bangladesh. The hoses near the coastline suffered massive damages due to the hurricane. Furthermore, the trees were uprooted. The power supply has been interrupted as the electric poles have been damaged.

Meanwhile, a minimum of 658,000 citizens have been moved to safer places. Three people have reportedly died in the cyclone in West Bengal. A 13-year-old girl was killed when a tree fell on her. Whereas, a woman died in the North 24 Pargana. When the cyclone dashed against the coast, the wind speeds were between 160 and 170 kilometres per hour. The wind speeds increased after that. Heavy to very heavy rains were reported from many parts. Torrential rains have hit many districts of West Bengal.

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Chief, SN Pradhan, said that five hundred thousand people from Odisha and 158,121 people from West Bengal were moved to safer places. Pradhan added that 20 NDRF units have been deployed in Odisha and 19 units have been deployed in West Bengal and two units have been kept on standby.