Balasore/Kolkata/Ranchi: Cyclone ‘Yaas’, packing winds of up to 130-145 kmph, whiplashed the country’s eastern coasts on Wednesday, dumping heavy rain, damaging houses, and farmlands, and leaving at least four persons dead – three in Odisha and one in Bengal — officials said.
Thick sheets of rain blurred the vast coastline, as the cyclone made landfall around 9 am near Dhamra port in Odisha, with surging waters swamping the mud-and-thatch houses in the low-lying areas, where a massive evacuation drive had been undertaken to move more than 20 lakh people to safety.
The storm, which had weakened during the afternoon, had left the coastal States on edge, with Bengal Government claiming that at least one crore people have been affected by the calamity thus far, as it hollered on its destructive path towards Jharkhand. ‘Yaas’ is the second cyclonic storm to hit India within a week after ‘Tauktae’ tore into its western coast, causing death and destruction.
Seawater inundated several villages in Bahanaga and Remuna blocks in Balasore district, and Dhamra and Basudevpur in the Bhadrak district, Odisha’s Special Relief Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Jena said. The administration, with the help of the locals, is taking measures to drain out the saline water from the villages, Jena explained.
Heavy rainfall in Similipal National Park in Mayurbhanj district sparked fears of a flash flood in the Budhabalang river. By afternoon, the water level in the river stood at 21 meters against the danger level of 27 meters, the Special Relief Commissioner said.
Local sources said two persons were killed – one each in Keonjhar and Balasore — after trees fell on them, but there was no official confirmation yet. Another elderly woman in Mayurbhanj reportedly died after her house collapsed.
Restoration work for power lines has started in several places of Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, and Jajpur districts after cables snapped, Jena said, adding that the storm will likely move to Jharkhand by midnight.
Odisha has shifted 5.8 lakh, people, to safer places, and West Bengal 15 lakh, ahead of the cyclone, amid concerns over the spread of COVID-19 infection at the temporary shelters, given the fact that the country is battling the raging second wave of the pandemic.
In Odisha, a red warning for heavy to very heavy rainfall was issued in nine districts. “Heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places with isolated extremely heavy fall very likely to occur over the districts of Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, and Dhenkanal,” the weather office said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has claimed that her State is the ‘worst-affected, pointing out that three lakh houses and 134 embankments have been damaged due to the cyclone.
She also said one person, who was initially rescued, died ‘accidentally’ later.
The scenic town of Digha in East Midnapore, which shares a border with Balasore district of Odisha, lay swamped, with the Army being called in for rescue operations, a defense official said. Parts of the nearby tourist towns of Mandarmani, Tajpur, and Shankarpur were also inundated, with seawaters entering the hotels and residential areas, besides causing damage to kutcha shops and houses. In certain areas, the waves were seen surging as high as the coconut trees that line the popular beaches. A school, situated along the coast in Shankarpur, was washed away by the high and mighty sea waves.
The compound of much-revered Kapil Muni Temple in Sagar Islands lay submerged, like tidal waves, as tall as five feet, crashed over the boardwalks. Some fishing boats and equipment were destroyed at harbors in Kakdwip, leaving the fishermen devoid of their livelihood.
