Remal fury on coastline, brace for heavy rain today
Times of India | 27 May 2024
Kolkata: Cyclone Remal’s landfall started around 9pm on Sunday at the coasts of Bengal and Bangladesh, a process that continued for four hours, between Sagar Islands and Khepupara, around 100km from Kolkata. The very severe cyclone brought wind speeds of 110kmph to 120kmph, gusting to 135kmph, when it hit land, triggering heavy rain along the coasts and a spell of 20mm to 30mm rain in Kolkata.
A consistent, intense spell of rain started lashing Kolkata from 10.30pm, as predicted. It was accompanied by gusts of wind that reached speeds of 70kmph-80kmph. The downpour would continue till the early hours of Monday and beyond, said the Met office. Neighbouring districts of North and South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly and East Midnapore also experienced heavy rain.
Even as clouds heralding the progress of the cyclone gave Kolkata a moderate 23.9mm rain and disrupted life on Sunday, the Met office said there was a high chance of heavy rain on Monday — between 70mm and 110mm. Kolkatans have also been warned about wind speeds ranging from 50kmph to 60kmph, gusting up to 70kmph, accompanied by smaller spells of thundershowers.
KMC teams were on standby, armed with tree-cutters, dumpers, payloaders and heavy-duty cranes to remove any uprooted trees, said mayor Firhad Hakim. He also asked residents of insecure buildings to take refuge at camps set up in KMC-run schools. He warned that although the civic body was ready with heavy-duty pumps to flush out storm water, it may take some time to free the city of waterlogging if there was continuous rain, as the Hooghly was in high tide.
In Salt Lake, New Town and Sector V, Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC), New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) and Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority (NDITA) opened control rooms with disaster-management teams. NKDA issued an advisory for housing societies and resident welfare associations in New Town to keep terraces and balconies of flats free of “loose items”, which might pose a threat.
Inputs from Aheli Banerjee, Saikat Ray & Suman Chakraborti