Houses destroyed, 12 lives lost: Aftermath of Cyclone Amphan

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/  Kolkata and several parts of West Bengal wore a battered look on Thursday after the extremely severe cyclone ‘Amphan’ ripped through the state, leaving 12 people dead and blowing up shanties, uprooting thousands of trees besides swamping low-lying areas.There are unconfirmed reports of eight more deaths from various parts of the state.

Large parts of Kolkata and other affected districts were without electricity as power poles had been blown up. Mobile and internet services were also down as the cyclone had damaged several communication towers Senior state officials said it was too early to estimate a toll on life or damage to property as the hardest hit areas were still not accessible. According to the weatherman, Amphan is the most  fiercest cyclone to hit the state in the last 100 years.

Packing heavy rain and winds with speeds of up to 190 kmph, extremely severe cyclone Amphan slammed Digha coast of West Bengal at 2.30 pm on Wednesday, triggering heavy rainfall and gustings in various parts of the state. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has been monitoring the situation at state secretariat Nabanna since Tuesday night, said the impact of Amphan was “worse than coronavirus”.