CM spends night at Nabanna to supervise fight against Yaas

KOLKATA: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee supervised the fight against cyclonic storm Yaas night-long on Tuesday from the war room set up at the state Secretariat ensuring the safety and security of the people of Bengal.

The state government is ready with the deployment of 3 lakh personnel and 72,000 officers and workers as the cyclone will affect 21 districts. The Army will also be deployed as and where required. "The state government is ready in coordination with all concerned agencies, which would be deployed as and when required in the time of the natural disaster," said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Close round-the-clock surveillance is continuing as water started gushing into villages in coastal areas, including Shankarpur and Digha, since Tuesday morning. Strong winds were blowing in the Sunderbans as well.

Sharing the latest information that there is a prediction of the landfall taking place at Sagar Island in Bengal, the Chief Minister urged people to remain indoors till Wednesday evening as a precautionary measure. She also added: "I would urge all not to worry unnecessarily as the state government is always there to extend all support."

This comes when localised tornadoes marred different pockets of the state since Tuesday afternoon claiming two lives and leaving four to five persons injured. Two persons were electrocuted at Pandua in Hooghly during such a tornado that also hit different areas at Chinsurah in Hooghly and Halisahar in North 24-Parganas. Around 80 houses were damaged there.

The cyclone will gradually intensify at night and the weather would turn worse since early morning on Wednesday as the landfall would take place at any time from early morning to noon. "We all will pray so that minimum damage is caused. But we have received recent updates that the landfall would also take place at Sagar Island. The after-effects of the cyclone continue for another four to five hours after the landfall. So, I will urge people to remain indoors till Wednesday evening. Please do not panic, just remain alert," she said.

Very severe cyclonic storm Yaas is likely to make landfall near Dhamra Port in Odisha's Bhadrak district on early Wednesday morning, said Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) in Alipore.

Yaas will intensify into a very severe cyclonic storm by late Tuesday night and is likely to hit any region between Dhamra Port and Balasore on the Odisha coast Tuesday morning. It would cause maximum damages mainly to two districts — East Midnapore and South Bengal.

The wind speed would be around 185 km per hour at the time of landfall in Odisha, according to the Alipore MeT office.

Various South Bengal districts, including Kolkata, received intermittent rainfall on Tuesday. In another development, low pressure was created in Hooghly's Bandel on Tuesday evening that triggered a cyclonic circulation.

The situation is also threatening in the riverine areas as most rivers are filled to the brim due to full moon high tide. The landfall of Yaas will coincide with full moon night and lunar eclipse on Wednesday, raising the danger of breach of embankments.

A senior IAS officer has also been deputed to supervise the situation in each district and to coordinate with the central war room at Nabanna. "I will be supervising the situation the entire night. I would urge people to stay safe and not to worry. Natural calamities are beyond human control. But all efforts are being made by the state government to ensure safety and security of people," Banerjee said. Around 11 lakh people have been evacuated from coastal and riverine areas. They have been taken to 4,000 cyclone shelters, schools and colleges. Major loss of life was averted during Amphan by evacuating 10 lakh people.

"This time, control rooms have been established up to the block level for better monitoring of the situation. Senior IAS officers have been dedicated for each district," Banerjee said after interaction with District Magistrates (DM).

She spoke to the DM of East Midnapore Purnendu Majhi, who is supervising the situation despite getting affected by Covid and ensured evacuation of people from coastal areas in the district, DM West Midnapore Rashmi Kamal, DM Jhargram Joyshee Dasgupta, DM South 24-Parganas P Ulaganathan and DM North 24-Parganas Sumit Gupta. Gupta would be himself present at Sandeshkhali and Hingalganj areas.

Chairman of the Board of Administrators of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Firhad Hakim, who is on house arrest, is also supervising the fight against the disaster virtually. "Separate groups of people's representatives are also taking care of the situation in north, central and south Kolkata," the Chief Minister said.

MLAs, including Atin Ghosh, Tapas Roy and Nayna Bandyopadhyay are supervising the situation in North Kolkata while Jiban Saha and Swapan Sammadar have been deputed for central parts of the city. Minister Aroop Biswas and Baiswanor Chattopadhyay will be in South Kolkata. Member Board of Administrator Tarak Singh and Anjan Dutta will look after the situation in Behala. Banerjee said steps had also been taken to ensure that water recedes fast from low lying areas in Kolkata.

Sanjib Bandyopadhyay, head of the RMC, Alipore, said: "The wind speed would be around 90-120 kmph in East Midnapore with gusting 145 kmph from Wednesday morning. In the adjoining districts of Jhargram and West Midnapore the wind would be measured at 80-90 kmph with gusting 110 kmph and South 24-Parganas wind speed 80-90 kmph gusting 100 kmph. North 24-Parganas may witness a wind speed of around 70-80 kmph gusting 90 kmph. The wind speed in Kolkata may be recorded at 65-75 kmph gusting 85."

Principal Secretary of the Disaster Management Department Dushyant Nariala said the tornado is taking place in pockets as a pre-effect of the cyclone. Senior officers, including Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay and Home Secretary HK Dwivedi, were also present at the state Secretariat to monitor the situation.

Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar also visited Nabanna at around 5.50 pm and went to the control room along with the Chief Minister to take a stock of the situation. He also had a discussion with the Chief Minister at her office housed on the 14th floor of the state Secretariat.

Maximum number of people were evacuated from South 24-Parganas followed by East Midnapore. More than three lakh and 1.50 lakh people were evacuated from South 24-Parganas till reports last came in. Keshiari, Datan and Mohanpur in West Midnapore while Gopiballavpur, Sankrail and Nayagram in Jhargram would also be badly hit. Around 3 lakh people were also evacuated in West Midnapore. Around 70,000 people were evacuated in North 24-Parganas. People were also evacuated in districts including Bankura, Birbhum, Hooghly, Howrah, Nadia, Purulia, Kolkata, East and West Burdwan.

Rise in the water level at Shankarpur-Digha coast has also been noticed and water gushed inside villages.

State Irrigation and Waterways department Saumen Mahapatra, who is in coastal areas in East Midnapore, said: "Engineers of the Irrigation department are well prepared to combat the situation and the houses that have been damaged with water entering the area will be reconstructed by the state government."

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport will remain closed on Wednesday from 8.30 am to 7.45 pm as a precautionary measure.

South Eastern Railway (SER) and Eastern Railway (ER) have geared for safety precautions in view of Yaas. Trains under both ER and SER have been chained to prevent damages due to high wind speed. While SER has cancelled 119 special long-distance trains, ER has cancelled 25.

The Indian Army's Eastern Command is spearheading a response for rescue and relief operations in Bengal.

A total of 17 integrated Cyclone Relief Columns, comprising specialised personnel with associated equipment and inflatable boats, have been deployed. Columns have been prepositioned at Purulia, Jhargram, Birbhum, Bardhaman, West Midnapur, Howrah, Hoogly, Nadia, 24-Parganas North and South. Nine Cyclone Relief columns have also been kept on standby at Kolkata, for redeployment as necessary in West Bengal, at short notice.

Various state government departments including the Food and Supply Department, Health department opened round the clock control rooms in connection with the cyclone. Officials would perform their duties in two shifts in both departments. State power minister Aroop Biswas said adequate arrangements have been made to combat the aftermath. Around 1,205 teams of WBSEDCL have been working across 17 districts for carrying out restoration work. Around 100 reserved teams have been kept for any emergency.

State Fire and Emergency services department minister Sujit Bose monitored the situation night-long from its control room at its headquarter. He is keeping in touch with all fire stations from the control room.