THREE PERSONS were killed in West Bengal on Friday even as the state administration evacuated around 2.16 lakh people from the low-lying areas and the authorities continue to be on alert in the aftermath of Cyclone Dana.
All the deaths – One each in Kolkata and Howrah and one in South 24 Parganas – occurred due to electrocution amid the waterlogging, official sources said.
Addressing mediapersons earlier in the day, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that one person – later identified as 17-year-old Shuvajit Das – died of electrocution in Patharpratima, South 24 Parganas district.
“He (Das) was doing some work with networking cables at his residence when he died. The postmortem will give a clearer picture. We will help the family if needed,” the CM said after holding a meeting to review the situation in cyclone-hit areas.
Another person, Sourav Gupta (22), a resident of Bhawanipur in Kolkata who hailed from Bihar, was electrocuted when he was returning home on Friday evening, police said.
Goutam Chattopadhyay (38), a temporary staffer at the Howrah municipal corporation died after he fell in a waterlogged patch on a road and came in contact with an open electric wire in the Tantipara area of Howrah, officers said.
Meanwhile, authorities have also been directed to distribute mosquito nets to prevent the outbreak of diseases due to waterlogging in many parts of the state, including Kolkata.
Relief camps would continue operations until weather conditions improve significantly, Banerjee said, adding that the rescue teams from the National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force should be deployed for two more days in the affected districts.
The CM also asked officials to check whether telemedicine facilities could be made avaialble as required. The government would look into the matter of those whose houses were destroyed, she said.
Referring to a survey by the agricultural department following the recent floods in the state, she directed officials to initiate another survey of farmlands to find out the extent of damage caused by Cyclone Dana.
The CM asked them to prepare a list of the damaged agricultural land to help farmers get money from crop insurance. She also said NDRF and SDRF teams should remain at their respective areas of deployment for 48 hours.
While the “severe” Cyclone Dana spared West Bengal from largescale destruction unlike previous storms such as Amphan and Bulbul, it breached embankments and brought torrential rains, causing considerable property damage in the southern areas, keeping the administration on high alert even after the storm passed on Friday morning.
The storm, which made landfall between Bhitarkanika and Dhamra in Odisha, brought rain and strong winds to many parts of the neighbouring West Bengal, particularly Purba Medinipur and South 24 Parganas.
Banerjee was at Nabanna, the headquarters of the state administration, throughout the intervening night of Thursday and Friday to monitor the situation and issue necessary instructions to officials.
Later on Friday, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari targeted the CM and said, “This is nothing but drama. She (CM) can give instructions from her house, through a mobile phone. [Instead] She did this to attract media attention and show that she is doing major work. But ultimately, it will not help flood-affected people.”
The cyclone made landfall around 3:30 am on Friday.
Mayor Firhad Hakim, who also monitored the situation overnight from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) control room, noted that the “high tide in the Hooghly River and incessant rainfall may slow down drainage efforts.”
As forecast by the Met, the coastal districts of Purba Medinipur and South 24 Parganas experienced the worst impact of the storm. Initial estimates from the district administration indicate that 350-400 kutcha dwellings were damaged in Purba Medinipur, along with around 250 uprooted trees and 175 downed electricity poles.
In South 24 Parganas, multiple reports indicated that mud embankments were breached by seawater. Initial estimates from the administration reveal that nearly 300 kutcha houses were damaged and around 50 electricity poles were uprooted across the district during the storm.
The Kapil Muni temple premises in Gangasagar was thoroughly inundated after sea water gushed in. Several trees were uprooted in Sagar Island and low-lying areas were flooded as water levels rose up to a metre due to the subsequent high tide.
Cyclone Dana is also likely to have severely impacted agriculture, particularly rice cultivation, as extensive areas of paddy fields were flattened and mature crops were submerged in water.
Farmers in Paschim Medinipur and other affected areas, who already faced losses from the recent flooding, expressed concern over the additional damage caused by the cyclone.
Meanwhile, large parts of Kolkata faced severe waterlogging well past the afternoon hours on Friday as the cyclone brought torrential rain in its wake, inundating areas across the city.
Due to incessant rain since Friday morning, water has accumulated in several places of Central Avenue. Water has also accumulated in Mahatma Gandhi Road, Park Street, Theatre Road, Camac Street. Part of Strand Road near North Port police station is under water. Water has accumulated near Science City. Belgharia Road, Burdwan Road and some roads in Alipore are waterlogged.
According to the regional Met office in Alipore, Kolkata recorded over 100 mm of rainfall by 11:30 am on Friday over the previous 24 hours.