Kolkata: Cyclone Dana, which has barrelled through the Odisha coast, unleashing sound and fury, uprooting trees, and snapping power lines in several areas, left its most tragic sign of devastation in West Bengal in the form of a human casualty.
Incidentally, Odisha achieved a 'zero casualty' target pulling out all stops in the wake of Cyclone Dana, Bengal suffered one casualty.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said that one person died in the state in cyclone Dana, even as the administration evacuated around 2.16 lakh people from the low-lying areas.
"Only one person died in this natural disaster. The man died at his residence while conducting some cable-related work. It is quite unfortunate. The postmortem examination will give us a clear picture. If required we (state government) will help the family," Banerjee said.
Earlier, the storm made landfall between Bhitarkanika and Dhamra with wind speeds of 100-110 kmph.
Banerjee, who held a review meeting at the state secretariat after spending the night there to monitor the situation, directed the officials to ensure that relief materials reach all those affected by the cyclone.
According to sources, one person died in the South 24 Parganas district's Patharpratima. He was working on a cable during the storm when he died. East Midnapore and Kolkata saw the impact of the cyclone. Kolkata is witnessing heavy showers and waterlogging in several areas.
Communication disrupted
Flight services at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata resumed on Friday morning an hour before the end of the scheduled 15-hour closure period. Similarly, the train services from Sealdah division of Eastern Railways which were kept suspended from 8 pm. since Thursday also resumed a little after 10 am on Friday.
A train on the Kharagpur-Visakhapatnam route would arrive at Bhadrak Station at 2 pm, the ECoR said.
The railway authorities informed that trains scheduled to originate from Bhubaneswar and Puri would commence their journey after noon on Friday, except the notified cancelled trains.
Large parts of Kolkata faced severe waterlogging during the morning hours of Friday as cyclone Dana brought torrential rain in its aftermath, inundating areas across the city.
According to the regional Met office in Alipore, Kolkata received over 100 mm of rainfall till 11.30 am on Friday over the previous 24 hours.
Knee-deep water at several thoroughfares in south and central parts of the city hampered traffic movement in Bhawanipur, New Market, Hazra, Dharmatala, and Behala areas.
Reports of waterlogging were also received from Thanthania Kalibari, Mahatma Gandhi Road, VIP Road, Park Circus, Dum Dum and parts of New Town in the northern and eastern parts of the city.
Significant flooding was also seen inside the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) headquarters in Esplanade area, while patients, staff and health workers were found wading through ankle-deep water at SSKM Hospital, one of the state's primary referral hospitals, causing major inconvenience to visitors and triggering apprehensions of spread of water-borne infections.
Rainwater accumulation was also noticed at the OPD wing of the Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital, another state-run tertiary healthcare facility in the city.
Sources said the first flight that took off from Kolkata airport on Friday morning was destined for Imphal.Similarly, the first flight to arrive here was from New Delhi.Since Thursday, all precautions have been taken at Kolkata Airport to prevent waterlogging on the runway.High-power pumps were put in place there to flush out the accumulated water as and when required.Train services from Sealdah division of Eastern Railways which were kept suspended from 8 P.M. since Thursday also resumed a little after 10 am on Friday.
"Train services from this division will continue as per schedule from now onwards,” an Eastern Railways official said. However, the rush of commuters in the suburban trains so far had been lesser on Friday than it used to be on normal days.No fresh announcement of cancellation of long-distance trains, apart from those already announced as cancelled earlier, was made.
Meanwhile, sources from the state government said that after spending the night at the state secretariat Nabanna monitoring the landfall situation in the state, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had become active again from Friday morning taking stock of the situation amid heavy showers in different pockets in the state as an after-effect of the landfall.
A number of Cabinet members have been instructed to reach out to the people at the affected areas and supervise relief operations. Similar instructions have also been given to our party MLAs,” said a member of the state Cabinet.
