Cyclone Amphan fury in Bengal damages 10.5L houses

Kolkata: In the worse ever destruction that Bengal has witnessed in the past few centuries, 10.5 lakh houses were damaged till the report came in with 21,560 square km area of land getting affected when the cyclone Amphan covering around 400 km at a time passed through the state at 140 km per hour.

According to a senior official of the state government, a preliminary report has been prepared. But detailed information is yet to get accumulated. The official said that the North and South 24-Parganas were worst affected with

almost nothing left in most parts of these two districts. Then comes Howrah, East and West Midnapore districts that too witnessed heavy destruction while Nadia, Hooghly and East Burdwan were badly affected.

"As many as 384 blocks and municipalities witness ravage due to the cyclone," the official said adding that 5,136 relief camps are being run at these places giving shelter to more than 6 lakh people many of whom have turned homeless as 10.5 lakh houses were damaged.

Around 1 km long embankment was completely damaged in Basanti block in South 24-Parganas leaving the entire area heavily inundated with water. Saline water-filled agricultural land at Patharpratima's Surendranagar where kancha houses were completely demolished due to the cyclone. Houses were also damaged at Baly Island.

Embankments at Ghoramara, Maipati, Debipore, Batkhali, Manashadwip, Koikhali and Andharia were completely washed away. Similarly, embankments were heavily damaged at Gosaba's Sonagain, Bagbagan, Manmathanagar and Jyotirampur.

The rescue teams are desperately trying to reach many places including Kakdwip and Namkhana. Different areas of Contai was badly affected while agricultural produce including boro paddy, groundnut, sesame, jute, moong, betel vine on the worth a few crores was damaged.

Flower cultivators have also faced huge losses mainly in Howrah and Nadia these are the two major flower-growing districts in the state.

The state government along with district authorities are leaving no stone unturned in ensuring relief for all. The disaster management group continued distributing tarpaulin and dry food among people in distress. At the same time the work to remove uprooted trees is going in war footing.