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Cyclone Amphan Strikes West Bengal Leaving Behind a Trail Of Destruction

Cyclone Amphan battered West Bengal yesterday uprooting trees, destroying buses, ripping apart electric polls and there was a loss of lives too.

Cyclone Amphan Strikes West Bengal Leaving Behind a Trail Of Destruction

Cyclone Amphan battered West Bengal yesterday uprooting trees, destroying buses, ripping apart electric polls and there was a loss of lives too. According to the chief minister of West Bengal- Mamta Banerjee, 12 people died due to the cyclone. 

There were heavy rains coupled with ferocious strong winds. Many parts of the city are struggling with communication services like phone and internet services. Hundreds of houses lay damaged and popular streets of the city are waterlogged. 

Some residents have captured visuals of electricity transformers exploding and shared it on social media. 

Visuals show airport hangars in Kolkata were waterlogged and some of the structures lay damaged.

Three districts of the South, North 24 Parganas, and East Midnapore are the worst affected. Many districts in the city have been without electricity for 17 hours. 

It’s being said that the impact of Cyclone Amphan was worse than COVID – 19. It is considered to be one of the worst storms to hit the state in years. 

Over 5 lakh people have been taken to shelters in Bengal. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who remained in the office during the storm said, “Sarbanash hoye galo (It is a catastrophe).” She added that areas that have been drastically affected cannot be accessed at this time. The authorities never anticipated the severity of the storm. 

“I am sitting in the war room. My office in Nabanna is shaking. I am tackling a difficult situation on a war footing. The storm is likely to continue till midnight,” Ms. Banerjee said in a statement on Wednesday night.

Clearing up the trees lying strewn on the roads would pose a major challenge for the authorities. Besides, Coronavirus and social distancing measures would hamper rescue operations. 

 

Amphan is the second super cyclone to form over the Bay of Bengal, the first being the super cyclone that struck Orissa in 1999 that left 10,000 people dead.  The strength of the cyclone has now reduced and weakened into a depression. The word Amphan pronounced as Um Pun means ‘Sky’ and has been classified as a severe cyclone after witnessing its trail of destruction.