Houses inundated, animals washed away as Cyclone Yaas hits Balasore and Dhamra in Odisha

Houses inundated, animals washed away as Cyclone Yaas hits Balasore and Dhamra in Odisha

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday announced seven days of relief for families affected due to the cyclone

Aritra SinghaUpdated: Wednesday, May 26, 2021, 09:08 PM IST
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A view of the turbulent sea with strong winds on Digha Sea Beach ahead of cyclone Yaas, in East Medinipur on Wednesday. (ANI Photo) |

Balasore/Kolkata: On Wednesday morning, Cyclone Yaas whipped through Odisha's Balasore with wind speed up to 155kmph. Rough sea conditions prevailed and there was heavy rainfall. Mud houses were innundated and domestic animals were seen being washed off as the sea water covered large swathes of cultivable land in Balasore. The scene in Odisha’s Dhamra was similar with several big trees uprooted and the area receiving over 100 mm of rainfall till the time of reporting.

According to India Meteorological Department (IMD) the very severe cyclonic storm Yaas crossed the North Odisha coast about 20 km south of Balasore resulting in extremely heavy rainfall in Odisha.

In West Bengal much ahead of the landfall of Yaas, the sea condition in Digha in East Midnapore was seen to be very rough. And on Sagar Island water swept into Kapil Muni’s Ashram.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has been in the control room in West Bengal state secretariat Nabanna said that more than 70 kilometres of the embankment have been fully or partially damaged in East Midnapore and also that water from different rivers like Bidyadhari, Haldi had entered into the villages leaving many villages inundated.

“Over 15 lakh people have been evacuated. Severe damage happened in Digha, Shankarpur, Tajpur and Mandarmani in East Midnapore and at least 15 places in South 24 parganas. Almost 2000 houses have been damaged due to the cyclone and much of cultivable land also went under water,” mentioned Mamata.

Notably, 17 companies of the army have been pressed into action and the Indian Navy has been kept on standby to help the state government if needed.

IMD East Zone director Sanjib Bandhopadhyay said that presently the very severe cyclone is south-south westwards of Balasore and in next three hours it will weaken into a severe cyclonic storm and after nine hours it will further reduce to a cyclonic storm.

“Gradually after weakening further the storm will travel north-westwards to Jharkhand. Since the landfall point was 200 km away from Kolkata, the metropolitan city will witness sporadic rainfall throughout the day,” mentioned Bandhopadhyay.

Meanwhile, all lock gates are kept closed in Kolkata and due to the full Lunar eclipse the water of a canal in Kalighat in South Kolkata has been raised, flooding the entire area.

“One person has died so far, despite being in the relief camp. 14000 relief camps have been set up. 10 crore rupees relief has been sent in the damaged areas. There is a possibility of high tide till tomorrow so everyone should stay away from water bodies,” added the TMC Supremo.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday announced seven days of relief for families affected due to the cyclone.

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