Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, May 26: Cyclone Yaas crossed the north Odisha coast about 20 km south of Balasore between 10.30 and 11.30 am on Wednesday, after causing heavy damages to the neighbouring state of West Bengal where more than one crore people were hit and about three lakh houses damaged in stormy winds and heavy rainfall.
The cyclone that hit the coast with a velocity of 130-140 km per hour winds was lying over north coastal Odisha, about 15 km southwest of Balasore in the afternoon and was likely to advance towards Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh late in the night before further weakening and dissipating by Thursday morning.
“At least one crore people have been affected by Cyclone Yaas in West Bengal,” Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said. Over 15 lakh people have been evacuated and three lakh houses have been damaged, she added. Ms. Banerjee said that death has been reported due to accidental drowning.
The Chief Minister said extensive damage to agriculture had been caused by the cyclone due to huge ingress of saline water in agriculture fields. There were reports of breach of embankments at 134 places in the State, she said.
Though the landfall was in Odisha coast, there was no immediate report of any heavy damages in the state so far although trees have been uprooted in Bhadrak district and some areas have been flooded. The government has warned people that heavy rains may continue and has urged them to stay indoors. Around 5.8 lakh people were shifted from low-lying regions in Odisha.
Worst-affected districts in Odisha on Wednesday were Balasore, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara. In Bengal, South and North 24 Paraganas, Digha, East Medinipur and Nandigram were among the worst-hit. Thirteen low-lying parts of Kolkata were flooded.
In West Bengal Banerjee said one person died in Digha town – he was reportedly dragged out to sea when he tried to catch fish. The coastal town was “swamped” by waves the height of a double-decker bus media reports said. Two others were electrocuted Tuesday, reports said.
Speaking to officials, Ms. Banerjee said they should come up with a permanent solution for repairing of embankments as every year cyclones are causing severe damage to the embankments.
“Cyclone Yaas, which began its landfall on Wednesday morning near Dhamra port in Odisha, has completed the process,” the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
Although landfall has been completed, heavy rains are still predicted and fishermen have been advised not to venture out to sea. Jharkhand is on high alert and officials have begun evacuating people from low-lying areas in vulnerable districts like East and West Singhbhum. Odisha also remains on high alert.
Bengal suffered extensive damage to agricultural land (due to ingress of salt water), fishery, animal husbandry and horticulture facilities. Around 20,000 mud houses and temporary shelters were either destroyed or damaged, media reports said. Minister Bankim Hazra said: “I have not seen anything like this before” after sea waters inundated low-lying areas in Digha, where a police station was flooded.
Kolkata’s Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport is closed till 7.45 pm. Bhubaneswar’s Biju Patnaik International Airport is closed till 5 am Thursday. Veer Surendra Sai Airport in Odisha’s Jharsuguda is shut till 7.45 pm Thursday. Durgapur and Rourkela airports will stay closed today. Indian Railways has cancelled, till Saturday, 38 long-distance passenger trains headed to both Kolkata and southern states.
Naval base INS Chilka is co-ordinating relief efforts with operations supported by Eastern Naval Command Headquarters in Visakhapatnam. The Army has deployed 17 columns in Bengal. Three columns and an engineering force have been sent to Odisha. The Air Force’s Eastern Command, which is based in Meghalaya, has also moved to help.
Yaas followed by cyclone Tauktae, that hit the Gujarat coast last week, have brought additional problems for the country already battling against the devastating second wave of Coronavirus. Officials fear the storm will complicate efforts to halt the surge in cases. Masks are being distributed at emergency shelters but maintaining social distancing will be a challenge. Vaccination drives in affected areas have also been suspended.
Banerjee held a review meeting with district magistrates, disaster management committee and other officials in West Bengal. Later, addressing the media, she said Bengal happens to be the “most-affected state”.
“I will soon be undertaking an aerial survey of the affected areas in Purba Medinipur, South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas districts,” Banerjee said.
“We will be conducting field surveys to get a final estimate… It will take us at least 72 hours to get a clearer idea,” she added.
The chief minister further said that as many as 15,04,506 people have been evacuated from the vulnerable areas in the state and moved to safer places.
The Odisha government said to ensure early restoration in cyclone Yaas affected districts, restoration work was being done on a war footing in different parts of the state. Restoration work in Balasore and Bhadrak began soon after the cyclone moved away from Balasore district.
“National Disaster Response Force and State fire service personnel started road clearance by removing uprooted trees in Jajpur, Jagatsingpur and Kendrapara where not much damage was observed. By 4 p.m., the road communication will be restored. Power restoration works have begun on a war-footing in the three districts,” the government said.
The cyclone caused major damage to the tree cover in Balasore and Mayurbhanj districts. Thousands of trees were reported to have fallen in Nilagiri area of Balasore district.
“Similipal Biosphere in Mayurbhanj district has been receiving heavy rain since Tuesday and it is still continuing. Water flowing down from Similipal usually feeds Burhabalanga river. The district administration is assessing if it could result in flash flood. Keeping this in mind, villagers from low-lying areas on both sides of Burhabalanga are being shifted to safer places,” he said.
The NDRF, together with the district administration of Jagatsinghpur in Odisha, has rescued 10 people from a river after their boat capsized, amid rough weather conditions under the influence of cyclone ‘Yaas’.
In a video tweeted by the Jagatsinghpur district collector, rescue personnel on Tuesday night can be seen holding on to an inflatable boat as people disembarked.
Jharkhand, which was put on high alert, continued evacuating low-lying areas on Wednesday amid the forecast that cyclone Yaas would be hitting the state by midnight after pounding neighbouring Odisha and West Bengal, officials said.
Operations are being executed on war-footing in the vulnerable areas in East and West Singhbhum, besides some other districts, in view of the very severe cyclonic storm Yaas, Disaster Management Secretary Amitabh Kaushal said. “We are witnessing high-speed wind and have evacuated about 6,000 persons from thatched houses and danger zones to shelter homes in safer locations,” East Singhbhum Deputy Commissioner Suraj Kumar said.
People are being shifted from low-lying areas near the two rivers in the district that are below the danger mark at present, he said.
Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) has said that as many as six flights, including three departures, have been cancelled in view of cyclone Yaas in the Bay of Bengal.
The flights to other regions, however, continue to operate as per schedule, CSMIA said a statement.
In light of the developments around Cyclone Yaas in the Bay of Bengal, the airport witnessed cancellation of flights between Mumbai to Kolkata and Bhubaneswar, CSMIA said.
Approximately six flights, three arrivals and departures each, have been cancelled so far, it said.
Administration of North Coastal Districts of Andhra Pradesh have also started gearing up to mitigate the impact of very severe cyclonic storm Yaas which was expected to bring heavy downpour to Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts, which are adjacent to Odisha.
As many as eight mandals that have previously been devastated by cyclones such as Laila, Phailin, Hud-Hud and Titli are expected to be affected by the Yaas cyclonic storm. Although the situation is currently calm in Tekkali division which covers Uddanam region, the district administration is anticipating havoc when the cyclone crosses the coast. AP Chief Secretary Adityanath Das and Srikakulam Collector J.Nivas have been monitoring the situation from Srikakulam Collector’s office.
NDRF teams have already reached Srikakulam district to monitor the situation.