Kolkata (West Bengal): Cyclone Yaas's landfall process began at around 9.30 AM on Wednesday between Dhamra and Balasore in Odisha, impacting the coastal areas of West Bengal's South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas and East Midnapore districts. The worst affected pockets were Digha in East Midnapore, Namkhana and Frasergunj in South 24 Parganas among others.
Heavy rains pounded various districts of South Bengal especially Kolkata, West Midnapore, Bankura, Purulia and Nadia among others. Army personnel have also been deployed in 10 districts of West Bengal to combat any eventualities.
The Met department had claimed that the landfall process would complete in three hours. "It crossed north Odisha-West Bengal coasts to the south of Balasore within the next 3 hours with a wind speed of average 130 to 155 kilometers per hour," a MET department official said.
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Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee cautioned people to remain indoors between 11 am and 1 pm in view of the cyclonic storm.
The chief minister also said that over 11 lakh people from different districts have been evacuated to safe places, out of which 3.9 lakh people are from the East Midnapore district alone, adding that around 15 blocks in the South 24 Parganas district alone have been badly affected.
"So is the situation in East Midnapore district. As per the information available with us, around 70 kilometers of river dams have been affected," she said. In Odisha, around three lakh people have been evacuated from different low-lying areas in the coastal zones of the state.
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The chief minister had been in the control room of the state secretariat since Tuesday night and she is directly monitoring and supervising the situation from there and giving direct instructions to the administration.
According to state secretariat sources, district and block level control rooms have been opened throughout the state, and all of them are connected with the central control room in the state secretariat. Also, the chief minister is constantly monitoring the situation with the collectors of 20 districts.
"We know that some losses will be there. But our chief minister’s goal is to keep the loss at a minimum level and avoid a situation like the post-Amphan devastation last year. Around three lakh staff from different emergency services departments are on the field, fighting the crisis," a member of the state cabinet said.
