Cyclone Amphan damage worse than coronavirus, 3 dead

Kolkata : Cyclone Amphan made landfall in Odisha and Bengal with speedy winds of above 100 kmph, destroying several houses, damaging buildings, uprooting trees, electricity poles and killing at least three people in Bengal.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has called the destruction worse than the ongoing coronavirus; she estimated the total loss to the state due to cyclone Amphan to be around 1 lakh crore.

The cyclone, whose eye was about 30 kilometre in diameter, made landfall with gusting winds of up to 185 kmph and waves about 15 feet tall.

Before the landfall, more than five lakh people in Bengal were moved to safety and over 1 lakh were taken away from its path of trajectory in Odisha.

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, CM Mamata Banerjee said three people have died in the state, but that the number may rise to about 12. She said North and South 24 Parganas districts were the worst hit and that Bengal "will have to rebuild everything".

"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.