Balasore/Digha/Ranchi: The India Meteorological Department on Wednesday said that the Cyclone Yaas has weakened after completing the landfall in Odisha. On the other hand, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that one crore people were affected by the cyclone in the state and over 3 lakh houses were damaged due to the cyclone. Here are the latest developments from the states where the cyclone wreaked havoc.
- Officials said that the Cyclone Yaas has weakened into a severe cyclonic storm on Wednesday afternoon after pounding the beach towns in north Odisha and neighbouring West Bengal with a wind speed of 130-145 kmph, inundating the low-lying areas.
- Earlier in the day, Cyclone Yaas had hit the coast north of Dhamra in Odisha’s Bhadrak district and 50 km south of Balasore, close to Bahanaga block, around 9 AM. The landfall process was over around 1.30 PM.
- As per updates, the seawater entered several villages in Bahanaga and Remuna blocks in the Balasore district, and Dhamra and Basudevpur in the Bhadrak district.
- Heavy rainfall in the Similipal National Park in Mayurbhanj district sparked fears of a flash flood in the Budhabalang river. In the afternoon, the water level in the river was at 21 metre against the danger level of 27 metre.
- So far, Odisha has shifted 5.8 lakh people to safer places, while West Bengal moved 15 lakh people ahead of the cyclone, amid concerns over following COVID-19 norms at the temporary shelters as the two states battled the pandemic, reporting thousands of new cases daily.
- West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that one crore people were affected by the cyclone in the state. Three lakh houses were damaged due to the cyclone, she said.
- She also added that at least one crore people in Bengal have been affected by this natural disaster. “As of now, three lakh houses have been damaged. One person died an accidental death even after he was rescued,” the chief minister said.
- In the meantime, the Indian Army has deployed 17 columns in West Bengal to assist the state administration. The rescue operation by the Army was also on at Orphuli in the Howrah district.
- In South 24 Parganas, many places, including Kakdwip, Fraserganj, Gosaba and Maipith in the Sunderbans region were flooded, displacing lakhs of villagers as thousands of kutcha houses were extensively damaged in the surging water and gale wind, officials said.
- Jharkhand, which was already on high alert, continued evacuating low-lying areas amid the forecast that the cyclone would be hitting the state by midnight, officials in Ranchi said. Operations are being executed on war-footing in the vulnerable areas in East and West Singhbhum, besides some other districts, in view of Yaas, Disaster Management Secretary Amitabh Kaushal told PTI.