JNS: Cyclone ‘Amphan’ (pronounced UM-PUN) has left at least 72 people dead and rendered over thousands to homeless. However, many lives were saved by mass evacuations organized by the government authorities in Odisha and West Bengal before Amphan struck.
At least 72 people have died in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal includes 15 in Kolkata due to the cyclone Amphan, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee told reporters.
She said she had never seen “such a disaster before” as the cyclone flattened houses and flooded cities and villages of the state that borders Bangladesh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday conducted an aerial survey of Cyclone Amphan-hit West Bengal with chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Dharmendra Pradhan, Babul Supriyo, Pratap Chandra Sarangi and Debasree Chaudhuri also accompanied them.
Deaths were reported from eight districts. South 24 Parganas recorded a maximum of 18 deaths, followed by North 24 Parganas with 17 deaths. People also died in Howrah, Hooghly, Purba Medinipur and Nadia. The deaths were mainly due to the falling of trees, electrocution and the collapse of poorly built houses, The Hindu reported.
Such areas as Kakdwip and Namkhana in South 24 Parganas and Minakha and Hingalganj in North 24 Parganas were the worst affected by the cyclone, which made landfall near Sagar Island. Damage has been reported from eight districts, but the maximum damage has occurred in the coastal districts, including South and North 24 Parganas, it said in the report.
Thousands of ‘katcha’ houses were damaged in the two districts and a large part of the Sunderbans police district was inundated because of the storm surge, which was four-five metres above the tide level, it reported.
