Kolkata: Ahead of the landfall of Cyclone Yaas at North of Dhamra and South of Balasore in Odisha, two persons in Hooghly’s Chinsurah died after being electrocuted and almost 40 houses in Halisahar got damaged due to the tornado in West Bengal.
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Addressing the media, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged everyone to stay safe and expressed her sorrow over the untoward incident that took place in West Bengal ahead of the Cyclone’s landfall.
“There were injuries and damages due to tornado. But we are taking necessary steps to curb further untoward incidents. Almost 11 lakh people are evacuated from the prone areas and are shifted to safe places. Almost 10-12 TMC ministers are pushed to monitor the situation in Kolkata,” added Mamata also mentioning that she will be monitoring the situation herself round the clock from West Bengal state secretariat.
Mamata also added that almost 54,000 officers and relief workers, 2 lakh police and Home Guard personnel, along with National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams are pressed to action to tackle the situation post cyclone.
Meanwhile, Patharpratima area near Sunderbans were seen already underwater due to the rise in water level due to severe storm.
“Apart from storm I have been informed that there is rise in water level even in Ganges due to full lunar eclipse tomorrow and the rise can even go up to 16-17 feet. The river banks are also cleared so that no one gets affected,” further mentioned the TMC supremo.
Stating that taking lessons from Cyclone Amphan last year, Mamata said that if needed even the Army will be deployed to tackle the situation.
“The thundery activities are expected to rise from the wee hours of Tuesday. The chief secretary and the home secretary are monitoring the situation and even Firhad Hakim is keeping a vigil from his residence,” claimed the West Bengal Chief Minister.
Till the time of reporting, the very severe Cyclone Yaas was 290 km away from Digha in West Bengal and 200 km away from Paradip in Odisha.
