Cyclone claims 6 lives, CM to visit affected areas; Kolkata-bound flights diverted to other cities
Kolkata, May 27: Cyclone Remal claimed six lives in West Bengal and inflicted substantial damage to infrastructure and property in the state’s coastal regions, officials said on Monday.
A man died of his injuries when a wall collapsed due to relentless downpour on Sunday evening at Bibir Bagan in Central Kolkata, a state disaster management official said.
An elderly woman from Mousuni Island near Namkhana, situated adjacent to the Sundarbans delta, succumbed to her injuries on Monday morning after a tree fell on her hut, leading to the collapse of the roof.
Two more women, one a resident of Maheshtala in South 24 Parganas and another from Panihati in North 24 Parganas, also lost their lives as a result of the natural calamity. In Purba Bardhaman district’s Memari, a father and son died from electrocution, officials said.
Several people were injured in various parts of the state after being hit by debris.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, while addressing an election rally in North Kolkata, claimed three people had died. “The administration is already providing assistance and relief to those whose mud houses and crops have been damaged. I promise that I will provide the necessary assistance” Banerjee said at the meeting.
The state government evacuated over two lakh people to relief camps and cyclone shelters.
After tearing through the coasts of Bangladesh and West Bengal, Cyclone Remal left a trail of destruction, with pictures of devastation emerging across the state’s coastal areas, showing extensive damage to infrastructure and property soon after daybreak on Monday.
The state government has initiated relief operations, providing food, drinking water, and medical assistance to the affected people.
According to a communication by the state government, more than 1,700 electric poles were damaged and many trees were uprooted by the cyclone.
More than 2,500 houses have been completely damaged, whereas 27,000 houses have been partially damaged.
“More than 1,400 relief camps are presently operational in the affected districts,” the government said.
While several pockets of Kolkata remained waterlogged, suburban train services from Sealdah resumed late in the afternoon.
Flight services at Kolkata airport resumed on Monday morning after being suspended for 21 hours due to Cyclone Remal. Airport sources, however, said it would take some more time for the situation to return to normal.
In an update on Monday morning, the Met office said ‘Remal’ weakened into a cyclonic storm, about 70 km northeast of Canning and 30 km west-southwest of Mongla.
Though flight services resumed at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) airport here on Monday after a 21-hour suspension in the wake of severe cyclone Remal, at least eight flights had to be diverted to other cities because of adverse weather conditions.
“So far, eight flights bound for Kolkata had to be diverted to other airports such as Guwahati, Gaya, Varanasi and Bhubaneswar due to bad weather,” an AAI spokesperson said.
The first departure from the city was IndiGo’s flight to Port Blair at 8.59am, he added.
Kolkata airport director C Pattabhi said that no infrastructure suffered any damage due to the natural calamity. (PTI)