Cyclone Jawad: 'Coastal districts to get heavy-to-very heavy rains in next 24 hrs'
KOLKATA: Light to moderate rains lashed several parts of Bengal on Sunday as remnants of cyclone Jawad that weakened into a deep depression on Sunday afternoon and weakened further as it turned into a well-marked low-pressure by late Sunday night.
The Regional Meteorological Centre in Alipore predicted that the coastal districts will receive heavy-to-very heavy rainfall in the next 24 hours while almost all the south Bengal districts will receive light to moderate rainfall. The situation will improve from Tuesday.
"Kolkata and some parts of south Bengal districts will receive heavy rainfall till Monday morning. It will rain throughout the day on Monday. The situation will improve from Tuesday. There will be no significant changes in the temperature in the next 24 hours following which it will drop in a very slow process. People may witness a sharp drop in the temperature by 2 to 4 degree Celsius after December 11," said Sanjeeb Bandyopadhyay, deputy director general of IMD Kolkata.
North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, East Midnapore, West Midnapore and Jhargram will receive heavy rainfall in the next 24 hours while Howrah, Hooghly, Nadia, Birbhum, Murshidabad will witness moderate-to-heavy rainfall. Fishermen have been alerted not to venture into the sea till December 6. The MeT office had earlier predicted that farm fields may be affected due to rains. Activities in the tourists spots in various south Bengal districts remained closed on Sunday. Ferry services in North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, East Midnapore and West Midnapore remained shut as well. State government stopped ferry services on the Hooghly River and urged tourists not to visit seaside resorts with a cyclonic storm laying centered 180 km from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday afternoon.
The weather system moved north-northeast at 20 kmph in the last six hours and is over west-central Bay of Bengal, 90 km from Gopalpur, 120 km from Puri and 210 km from Paradip, the weather office said in its morning bulletin. "It is likely to continue to move north-northeast wards along the Odisha coast towards the Bengal coast and weaken into a well-marked low-pressure area around midnight," a weather official said on Sunday. The system remained at around 70 km away from Puri in the afternoon.According to the State government sources, around 24,375 people have been evacuated so far and 82 relief camps have been opened. In addition to that around 20 Relief Shelters and 225 additional Relief Shelters were made ready for emergency evacuation if needed. One NDRF team was deployed at Kakdwip, 2 SDRF teams deployed at Freaserganj & Sagar. QRTs of WBSEDCL,PWD,Civil Defence were placed in strategic places and bottled drinking water of PHEs were kept in reserve. Adequate relief materials like tarpaulins, rice were reserved in blocks and GPs areas.
"Medical teams have been attached with Relief Shelters. Around 95 percent of crops have been harvested. One small boat toppled at Muriganga while anchoring but no casualty was reported. Earthen embankments breached at 2 places at Namkhana and in Kumirmari,Gosaba. However, patch repairs were done by the Irrigation department. Damages to crops, animals and fisheries are being assessed," said a senior government official.
