12 dead in Cyclone Amphan, heavy rain in Assam

At least 12 people dead and more are feared as the Cyclone Amphan wreaked havoc in West Bengal and Orissa while it caused very heavy rain throughout the Brahmaputra valley.

It has destroyed thousands of houses, damagingbuildings, uprooting trees, electricity poles and killing at least three peoplein Bengal. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the impact of Amphan was worsethan the coronavirus pandemic and claimed damages due to the cyclone could bein the region of Rs 1 lakh crore.

 The cyclone, whose eye was about 30 kilometre in diameter, made landfall with gusting winds of up to 185 km and waves about 15 feet tall. Over five lakh people had been taken to shelters in West Bengal and over one lakh in Odisha.

In Assam, there has been widespread rainfall, but the details of the damage are awaited but certainly, the severity is far less than neighbouring West Bengal. Assam has no wind but only heavy rain.

Around 5,500 houses were damaged in 24 North Parganas. "Five thousand and five hundred houses damaged, two persons dead and two severely injured in North 24 Parganas," said a 7 pm report by Bibek Vasme, Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) Basirhat, news agency ANI reported. The power supply had been cut in both North and South 24 Parganas.

In Kolkata, howling winds – easily above 100kmph – could be heard throughout Wednesday evening and many buildings weredamaged. Parts of the city plunged into darkness with no electricity for mostof the evening. The streets were waterlogged and trees uprooted.

Videos on social media showed how parked carsbumped into each other at a south Kolkata highrise, trees ripped out of theground, and a blast in an electrical transformer.

Amphan crossed the Bengal-Bangladesh coasts onWednesday evening with the speed of 155-160 kmph gusting to 185 kmph across theSunderbans, the Met department said.

Amphan had weakened from a super cyclone to an "extremely severe cyclonic storm" on Tuesday, causing strong winds and heavy rain in parts of Odisha and Bengal as it advanced towards the Indian coast.