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Cyclone Yaas batters eastern India, 1.2 million seek shelter

By  Channel News Asia 

DIGHA, India: Heavy rains and howling winds lashed eastern India on Wednesday (May 26) as the COVID-19 stricken country’s second cyclone in as many weeks battered the coast, forcing more than 1.2 million people to seek shelter.

Weather officials said the “very severe cyclone” was expected to hit Odisha and adjacent West Bengal, with some effects felt even in Bangladesh, although the neighboring country is not in the storm’s direct path.

West Bengal’s chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, told reporters that about 20,000 mud houses and temporary shelters had been damaged in the state.

“I have not seen anything like this before,” said another state minister, Bankim Hazra, after seawater gushed into the low-lying areas of Sagar island in the Bay of Bengal and the tourist town of Digha, where a police station was flooded.

“Successive high tides battered the coastline,” he added. “It is inundation all around and villages are cut off.”

Many scientists say cyclones are becoming more frequent and severe in the northern Indian Ocean as climate change warms the sea.

Last week Cyclone Tauktae claimed at least 155 lives in western India. The latest system, Cyclone Yaas, has forced the evacuation of more than 1.2 million people in the eastern states of West Bengal and Odisha.

The Indian Meteorological Department said landfall began about 9am (11.30am, Singapore time) and warned that it would generate waves higher than rooftops in some areas.

Coastal areas experienced wind gusts up to 155km an hour and pounding rain.

“We have been experiencing heavy rainfall and strong winds since last night,” said Bibhu Prasad Panda, a resident of Balasore district in the storm’s path.

A Hindu priest holds onto a fence at a seafront temple while strong winds batter
A Hindu priest holds onto a fence at a seafront temple while strong winds batter Balasore district in Odisha state on May 26, 2021 as Cyclone Yaas barrels towards India’s eastern coast in the Bay of Bengal. (Photo: AFP/Dibyangshu Sarkar)

“Several trees have been uprooted. The cyclone has also led to snapping of overhead electricity cables.”

Police said they had rescued 10 people after their boat capsized near shore in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district on Tuesday. Naval base Chilka is monitoring ships in the area and is ready for rescue operations, the Indian Navy said.

A tornado that preceded the storm left two dead electrocuted as it tore through West Bengal’s Hooghly district, authorities said.

Kolkata, West Bengal’s main city, ordered its international airport to shut down for most of Wednesday. The airport in Odisha’s capital, Bhubaneswar, followed suit.

“Every life is precious,” said Odisha’s chief minister Naveen Patnaik as he appealed for people not to “panic” and to move away from the coast.

A record 4,800 disaster workers had been positioned in the two states, equipped with tree and wire cutters, emergency communications, inflatable boats and medical aid, the National Disaster Response Force said.

Weather officials in Bangladesh said the storm was likely to swamp low-lying areas of 14 coastal districts, bringing tides 0.91m to 1.22m higher than normal, and advised fishing boats and trawlers to stay under shelter.

“TERRIBLE BLOW”

Both states are struggling with the coronavirus wave that has left more than 120,000 dead across India in the past six weeks.

While masks have been distributed in emergency shelters and relief workers are trying to impose social distancing, many officials fear the new cyclone will only speed up the spread of the virus.

Villagers wait at a shelter as Cyclone Yaas barrels towards India's eastern coast in the Bay of
Villagers wait at a shelter as Cyclone Yaas barrels towards India’s eastern coast in the Bay of Bengal. (Photo: AFP/Dibyangshu Sarkar)

“This cyclone spells double trouble for millions of people in India as there is no respite from COVID-19,” said Udaya Regmi, South Asia head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

The storm “is a terrible blow for many people in coastal districts whose families have been struck down by COVID-19 infections and deaths”, West Bengal state minister Bankim Chandra Hazra told AFP.

Hazra added that it would be “a big challenge” to maintain social distancing in the emergency shelters.

Some vaccination centers in threatened districts suspended operations because of the storm and a special operation had been launched to ensure the supply of oxygen and medicines to hospitals, officials said.

Officials in neighboring Bangladesh, a regular target of cyclones, said they expected the low-lying delta nation to be spared this time.

Some of the deadliest storms in history have formed in the Bay of Bengal, including one in 1970 that killed half a million people in what is modern-day Bangladesh.

Odisha’s worst-ever cyclone, in 1999, killed 10,000 people. Last year Cyclone Amphan, the worst since 1999, caused widespread devastation but timely evacuations meant fatalities were fewer than 150.

Source: AFP

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