The extremely severe cyclone Amphan, with an intensified speed of 165 kmph, entered West Bengal on the evening of the 20th of May.
Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, addressed a press conference and said,”After the extremely severe cyclonic storm pounded Bengal, killing three people, damaging buildings and uprooting trees. Damages due to Amphan.” she said, the West Bengal Government needs to rebuild everything as the damage in the State is equal to Rs. 1 lakh crores. In just a few hours, the Cyclone claimed 5 lives in West Bengal and the number of deceased is expected to reach 12. Nearly 5,287 houses were damaged due to Amphan.
The effect was worse as the cyclone is the strongest one in the last 20 years after 1999. Bridges swept away, houses damaged, electricity poles damaged, trees uprooted and continuous rainfall are some of the major effects of Amphan.
Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, the Chief of the India Meteorological Department (IMD,) also known as Cyclone man in India said, “The next 24 hours are very crucial. This is a long haul.”
In the next 24 hours, Amphan hit areas Odisha and West Bengal in India and Bangladesh would see the extent of the impact due to Amphan.
As many as 5 lakh people from West Bengal were evacuated before Amphan made landfall in Kolkata.
With this, Amphan Odisha and West Bengal would face a tough challenge to rescue Cyclone stuck people and repair the damages for poor.
The pandemic situation due to the Novel Coronavirus made the challenge double for the Odisha and West Bengal state governments.While evacuating people from their houses and allowing shelter at shelter homes, social distancing norms were not followed, which led to a fear of the rise of COVID-19 infection.
Forty one National Disaster Rescue Force (NDRF) are on duty to rescue people in the Amphan hit areas.
The rescue operation is underway.
Stay tuned for further updates.
