Cyclone Amphan leaves trail of destruction in northern part of Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: Super Cyclone Amphan left a trail of destructions in Odisha on Wednesday as it moved towards West Bengal grazing the northern part of the state to make landfall close to Sundarbans between Digha in West Bengal and Hatiya in Bangladesh.
Several trees were uprooted, roofs blown away and power infrastructure shattered in Bhadrak, Balasore, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapada as the worst cyclone of the Bay of Bengal in 20 years triggered strong wind accompanied by heavy rain along the Odisha coast on its way towards West Bengal-Bangadesh.
Government authorities said so far there is no report of any loss of life. “There is report of death of a child in Bhadrak district. However, we are still verifying if it was due to cyclone related reasons,” special relief commissioner Pradeep Kumar Jena said.
Three members of a family were injured when branches of a tree fell on their house in Balasore. The cyclone is moving almost in the same path predicted by the India Meteorological Department. “However, it will be still too early to say the worst is over for the state as Balasore is still facing wind in the speed range of 100 km to 110 km,” the senior bureaucrat said.
Safety personnel were engaged in restoration work cutting branches of trees fallen on roads even as the storm continued. Standing crop of paddy suffered massive damage in Kendrapada and Jagatsinghpur. Saline water entered into certain seaside villages.
Bhubaneswar, Puri and southern coastal districts didn’t face the fury much. There were moderate to heavy rainfall but there was no ferocious wind. After overnight rain, the rain fall reduced in Bubaneswar. Low-lying areas of Cuttack witnessed waterlogging.
As a precautionary measure, the government has evacuated 1.48 lakh people in 13 districts and have kept them in 2921 cyclone shelters. IMD Bhubaneswar director H R Biswas said the landfall process has started.