72 dead in Cyclone Amphan in West Bengal: Mamata Banerjee
Kolkata/IBNS: The devastaing Cyclone Amphan has claimed 72 lives in West Bengal, including 15 in the capital city of Kolkata, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said at a press conference here.
Cyclone Amphan on Wednesday pummelled the eastern state of West Bengal leaving scores of people dead, countless homeless, besides plunging large parts of the state without electricity, internet connections and other communications as the six-hour-long calamitous dance of the nature left even the city airport in disarray.
West Bengal and its capital Kolkata resemble a jigsaw puzzles of devastation and human misery with many homeless as authorities try to reach relief amid the scare of coronavirus.
“I would request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to come and visit affected areas,” Mamata Banerjee said hours after the PM tweeted and assured to leave no stone unturned to assist Bengal and Odisha.
Cyclone Amphan crossed West Bengal-Bangladesh coast between Digha (West Bengal) and Hatiya Islands (Bangladesh) across Sunderbans near lat 21.65N & long 88.3E between 1530 & 1730 hrs IST of 20th May with wind speed of 155-165 gusting to 185 mph, the Indian Met Department stated.
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Super Cyclone Amphan weakened into a cyclonic storm and lay centred over Bangladesh, MET depatment said.
In its latest report, the Indian Meteorological Department(IMD) has said that the Cyclone Amphan is very likely to continue to move north-northeast wards and weaken further into a ‘Deep Depression’ during next three hours and into a depression during subsequent six hours.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said no stones will be left unturned in helping the people of West Bengal and Odisha ravaged by super cyclone Amphan on Wednesday, which left a trail of destruction as it progressed towards Bangladesh.
Have been seeing visuals from West Bengal on the devastation caused by Cyclone Amphan. In this challenging hour, the entire nation stands in solidarity with West Bengal. Praying for the well-being of the people of the state. Efforts are on to ensure normalcy.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 21, 2020
"Have been seeing visuals from West Bengal on the devastation caused by Cyclone Amphan. In this challenging hour, the entire nation stands in solidarity with West Bengal. Praying for the well-being of the people of the state. Efforts are on to ensure normalcy," he tweeted.
Kolkata received heavy rains and witnessed huge gush of wind storms which damaged the roofs of several buildings and uprooted a massive number of trees, lampposts across the city.
As per local media reports, even a temple in north Kolkata's CR Avenue was uprooted.
The cyclone has left a huge damage in South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas.
Even on Thursday morning, mobile networks are unstable in Kolkata which is the capital city of West Bengal.
A portion of Kolkata airport was found damaged due to Amphan, which is the second 'super cyclone' to have originated over the Bay of Bengal (since the time of recording), besides getting flooded due to rains.
#CycloneAmphan leaves behind a trail of destruction in West Bengal, several deaths reported. A viral video of #Kolkata airport #NSCBI airport pic.twitter.com/ZIySfwRUUa
— India Blooms (@indiablooms) May 21, 2020
(Images and videos: Sandip Das / Avishek Mitra)
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