KOLKATA: Cyclone Yaas battered the coastal areas in three districts, East Midnapore, North 24 Parganas, and South 24 Parganas, of West Bengal on Wednesday and the chief minister Mamata Banerjee said nearly 1 crore people of the state was affected because of the natural calamity. Report of one person’s death came from Ramnagar, East Midnapore.
Mamata will conduct a two-day aerial survey of three districts to assess the extent of damage caused by Yaas.
"It will take 72 hours to assess the volume of damage," she said.
East Midnapore was the most affected district as it is closest to the point in Odisha where the cyclone made landfall.
In East Midnapore, Ramnagar, Digha, Udaypur, Mandarmani, Tajpur, Nandigram, Khejuri were the among areas that were ravaged by the cyclone with a wind speed gusting to 85 kmph to 100 kmph.
Sources in Nabanna, the state secretariat, said at least 135 clay-made dams were washed away in the three affected districts. Hundreds of villages were flooded with saline water in Kakdwip, Patharpratima, Sagar Island, Diamond Harbour, Nodakhali, Gosaba in South 24 Parganas. Though there was no casualty because the state administration carried out an evacuation drive for the past three days and around 14 lakh villagers were shifted to safe refugee centers.
North 24-Parganas’s Hingalganj, Basirhat, Sandeshkhali, Haroa were ravaged by the cyclone.
There was a high alert in Kolkata but there was no impact of the cyclone in the state capital