NDRF and Block Disaster Management personnel make announcements as part of precautionary measures, ahead of the landfall of Cyclone ‘Remal’, in South 24 Parganas district. | Photo Credit: PTI
Severe cyclonic storm Remal has intensified and moved northwards and is likely to cross Bangladesh and adjoining West Bengal coasts between Sagar Island and Khepupara, close to southwest of Mongla (Bangladesh), by Sunday midnight.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday chaired a meeting to review response and preparedness for the cyclonic storm, while Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged people to remain alert.
Also read: Cyclone Remal LIVE updates
According to the India Meteorological Department, Remal will have a maximum sustained wind speed of 110-120 kmph, gusting to 135 kmph.
“The outer cloud band lies over coastal areas of Bangladesh and West Bengal,” an IMD bulletin said.
As West Bengal braces for the cyclonic storm, the IMD has issued a red alert cyclone warning for the State coastline. The West Bengal administration has evacuated people from low lying and coastal areas of South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas and Purba Medinipur to storm shelters. By 3 p.m. on Sunday, the government had evacuated over one lakh people from coastal and vulnerable areas.
A red alert for heavy (7–11 cm) to very heavy rain (12-20 cm) issued for a few places over North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, East Midnapore, Kolkata, Howrah and Hooghly districts and extremely heavy rain (>20 cm) at one or two places is very likely over North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas and East Midnapore districts.
Fishermen cautioned
A red alert has been issued for fishermen, advising them not to venture into sea till Monday.
Somenath Dutta, Director of the Regional Meteorological Centre at Alipore in Kolkata, told journalists that though Remal was likely to cause damage along the West Bengal coastline, the damage would be less than Amphan that ravaged south Bengal in May 2020. Mr. Dutta said Amphan was super cyclonic storm and wind speed was about 220 kmph.
The IMD has predicted storm surge of about 1 metre above astronomical tide, which is likely to inundate low lying areas of coastal West Bengal around the time of landfall. There were reports of breach of embankments in the Gosaba area of South 24 Parganas. At Hingalganj in North 24 Parganas, local panchayat urged people to join in immediate embankment repairs. As the region received heavy rainfall in many areas, locals joined to repair the embankments. With the funds under the MGNREGS being stopped, the embankments in the Sundarbans have not been repaired for the past two years.
Trains, flights hit
The severe cyclonic storm has resulted in disruptions in air, rail, and road transportation in Kolkata and other parts of south Bengal. Eastern and Southeastern Railways have cancelled several trains for Sunday and Monday. Ferry services in Kolkata and the Sundarbans have been suspended.
The authorities of the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport have suspended flight operations for 21 hours from Sunday noon, affecting 394 flights in both international and domestic sectors. The Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port in Kolkata has also suspended cargo and container handling operations for 12 hours from Sunday evening.
Mayor of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Firhad Hakim expressed the hope that waterlogging owing to the impact of cyclone would be cleared in four to five hours.
Fourteen teams of the National Disaster Response Force and teams of State Disaster Response Force have been deployed in coastal areas. The Navy has readied two ships equipped with humanitarian assistance and disaster response and medical supplies. Several ships of the Coast Guard are in standby mode and Dornier aircrafts have been making sorties to alert any vessel along the coast.
Campaign suspended
The campaign by major political parties for the seventh and last phase of the Lok Sabha polls was cancelled owing to the inclement weather conditions. The road show of Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in Kolkata’s Metaibruz was called off. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s road show from Narendrapur to Sonarpur was cancelled because of the cyclone.
Political events of BJP leaders Sukanta Majumdar and Suvendu Adhikari were cancelled at Sandeshkhali and Mathurapur. Nine Lok Sabha seats in Kolkata and adjoining areas, including the Sundarbans will go to polls on June 1 in the last phase of polling.
