NDTV, Kolkata :
72 people died in Bengal because of Cyclone Amphan, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Thursday after the powerful storm wrecked cities including Kolkata on Wednesday, destroying thousands of homes and uprooting trees and electric poles. The chief minister said the damage caused by Amphan is more than the coronavirus pandemic and has asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit the affected districts and provide help to “rebuild those areas from scratch”.
“I have asked the PM to visit Sunderbans. In this hour or crisis, let us work together… Amit Shah called me on Thursday afternoon and assured the centre will extend full help,” Ms Banerjee said.
The PM has said the entire nation stands with Bengal and “no stone will be left unturned” to help those affected. “In this challenging hour, the entire nation stands in solidarity with West Bengal. Praying for the well-being of the people of the state. Efforts are on to ensure normalcy,” the PM tweeted.
Ms Banerjee, saying that she had never seen a disaster of this magnitude before, announced Rs 2.5 lakh as compensation to the families of those killed in the cyclone.
Ms Banerjee said most of those killed died due to trees falling on them and electrocution. 15 of the 72 who died were from Kolkata.
Bengal took the brunt of Cyclone Amphan, which barrelled into the coast with gusting winds of up to 185 km per hour. Ms Banerjee had last evening claimed damages due to the cyclone could be in the region of Rs 1 lakh crore.
Strong winds with speed up to 125 kmph per hour upturned cars in Kolkata and left trees and electricity poles torn off and blocking roads. Portions of several battered buildings came crashing down in Kolkata.
The Kolkata airport, which had been shut, was left flooded and many structures within damaged.
The cyclone also ripped through the coastal districts of North and South 24 Paraganas of Bengal with heavy rain and windstorm, blowing away thatched houses, uprooting trees, electric poles and flooding low lying areas.
“Sarbanash hoye galo (It is a catastrophe)…Communications are disrupted,” said Mamata Banerjee yesterday, who remained in her office during the storm, adding that although 5 lakh people had been evacuated, state authorities had not entirely anticipated the ferocity of the storm.
Cyclone Amphan is only the second “super cyclone” to form over the Bay of Bengal since records began, and the first since 1999. Odisha was hit by a super cyclone that left nearly 10,000 dead in 1999.
