Bengal, Odisha evacuate lakhs of people
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Bhubaneswar/Kolkata/Ranchi West Bengal and Odisha have evacuated lakhs of people from vulnerable areas to safety as severe cyclonic storm 'Yaas' is nearing the coast and is expected to make landfall near Dhamra Port in Bhadrak district early on Wednesday morning.
Neighbouring Jharkhand has also sounded an alert and is preparing for the cyclone's impact. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said that her administration has evacuated over nine lakh people to safe shelters.
The Odisha government, on the other hand, said it has moved over 2 lakh people from vulnerable areas in coastal districts to safety. IMD Director General Dr Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said that 'Yaas' is likely to intensify into a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm (VSCS) by Tuesday evening. He said the cyclone's impact will be severe for six hours before and after the landfall and Chandbali will witness the maximum damage.
Dr Umashankar Das, a scientist at the Regional Meteorological Centre, Bhubaneswar said that the landfall will most likely be between Dhamra and Chandbali in Odisha's Bhadrak district. Banerjee said over 74,000 officers and workers and over 2 lakh policemen and civic volunteers have been deployed to mitigate the natural calamity in West Bengal.
She said that National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) personnel have been deployed and Army's help will be sought if required.
"We have evacuated at least 9 lakh people to relief and flood centres. There are 4,000 flood centres in the state. We are monitoring the situation 24/7. Control rooms have been set up at every block to monitor the situation, apart from the one at state secretariat Nabanna," she said.
The Chief Minister said that senior IAS officers have been assigned to monitor the situation in different districts. "The chief and home secretaries are in touch with the district magistrates. I have spoken with the DMs of South and North 24 Parganas, Jhargram and Purba Medinipur districts. I will be at Nabanna to monitor the situation throughout the night," she said.
Banerjee said adequate arrangements have been made for Kolkata. Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) Board of Administrators' Chairman Firhad Hakim is monitoring the situation from home, she said.
