Super Cyclone Amphan has crossed over to Bangladesh after leaving a trail of destruction in the Indian states of West Bengal and Odisha. According to India’s federal Meteorological Department, “it is likely to continue to move north-northeastwards and weaken further into a Deep Depression during the next three hours."
#CycloneAmphan leaves trail of destruction in #Odisha and #WestBengal and moves to #Bangladesh. 10 people reportedly killed, thousands of houses destroyed, buildings damaged and trees, electricity poles uprooted, vehicles turned upside down. pic.twitter.com/uCW1ItCP9H
— NB Nair (@nbnair) May 21, 2020
Over 500,000 people in West Bengal and 150,000 in Odisha were evacuated to safer places and shelters. The head of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, said the cyclone caused approximately $13 billion worth of damages in the state.
Meanwhile, personnel of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have already begun the restoration of communication systems in several districts of West Bengal – 24 Parganas, East Medinipur, Howrah, Kolkata and South 24 Parganas.
#CycloneAmphan Updates 21/5/20-
— ѕαtчα prαdhαnसत्य नारायण प्रधान ସତ୍ଯପ୍ରଧାନ-DG NDRF (@satyaprad1) May 21, 2020
𝐃𝐀𝐘 1@NDRFHQ @ Restoration Work at Hasnabad, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal#NDRF4U#Committed2Serve #LetsFaceAmphanTogether @NDRFHQ @ndmaindia @PMOIndia @HMOIndia @PIBHomeAffairs @BhallaAjay26 @DDNewslive @ANI @airnewsalerts @PTI_News pic.twitter.com/bapHISmgUJ
#AmphanCycloneUpdate # Restoration work# Road clearance and electric wire cutting # at Hasnabad Block, Dist - North 24 PGS# West Bengal# By Teams 2 BN NDRF KOLKATA#@NDRFHQ @ndmaindia @satyaprad1 @ANI @PIB_India @PIBKolkata pic.twitter.com/zZo1XPQ2GY
— NDRF KOLKATA (@2_ndrf) May 21, 2020
In Odisha, several areas of Balasore, Puri, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Kendrapar, Jajpur, Ganjam and Bhadrak were hit by heavy rains.
India's federal weather office has warned of heavy rainfall in northeastern states of Assam and Meghalaya on Thursday.
Both of the most heavily-affected states are also in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic, with West Bengal recording a caseload of 3,103, which includes 1,136 recoveries and 253 deaths. Odisha has registered 1,052 cases, including 307 recoveries and six deaths. At the national level, according to data released by the federal Health Ministry on Thursday, the cumulative caseload was 112,359, including 45,300 recoveries and 3,435 deaths.
