Cyclone Remal Claims 4 Lives in Bengal; Traffic Hit in Kolkata

Kolkata: At least four people died as Cyclone Remal tore through West Bengal and neighbouring Bangladesh with winds speeds reaching 135 km per hour, leaving a trail of destruction behind.

The deceased include an elderly woman and a young man and a father-son duo. The deceased woman has been identified as Renuka Mandal (80) who died after a large tree fell on her house in Gangasagar's Mausuni island. Meanwhile, the youth, identified as Mahamad Sajib, was killed after part of a house collapsed in Entali. 

The father-son duo got electrocuted in East Burdwan while cutting a banana tree that had fallen due to the storm yesterday night. The tree had come in contact with a live wire.

The severe cyclonic storm wreaked havoc in parts of Bengal with heavy rain lashing several areas, trees being uprooted, houses being damaged and embankments being breached in coastal areas of the State. 

Roofs of thatched huts were blown away, uprooted trees blocked roads in Kolkata as well as in the coastal districts, and electricity poles were knocked down causing significant power cuts in various parts of the state. 

While several areas in Kolkata remained waterlogged due to rain on Monday morning, suburban train services from the Sealdah terminal station remained partially affected for at least three hours, adding to commuters’ woes, before operations limped back to normal. The rain-induced waterlogging led to disruption in road traffic in parts of the city. 

Kolkata Metro Services Partially Suspended

Flight services at the Kolkata airport resumed on Monday morning after remaining suspended for 21 hours in view of Cyclone Remal. Airport sources, however, said it will take some more time for the situation to become normal. 

In a later update, the Met office said ‘Remal’ weakened into a cyclonic storm at 5:30 am on Monday, about 70 km northeast of Canning and 30 km west-southwest of Mongla. The system is likely to gradually weaken further.

In its latest update, the IMD the cyclone is 90 km east of Kolkata and likely to weaken further.

In a post on X, the IMD tweeted, “Cyclonic Storm Remal over Coastal Bangladesh and adj Coastal West Bengal is about 40 km northwest of Mongla, 90 km east of Kolkata, 90 km northeast of Canning. System is initially likely to move north-northeastwards, subsequently northeastwards and gradually weaken further(sic). 

Kolkata Logs 144mm Rainfall in 24 Hours

Kolkata logged 144mm rainfall in the 24-hour period ending at 8.30am on Monday. Even as cyclone Remal has weakened into a cyclonic storm the weather office has predicted heavy to very heavy rain at one or two places over North and South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly Kolkata Nadia, Murshidabad districts.
The authorities have urged residents to remain indoors and take necessary precaution till the heavy rain persists. 

The MeT has predicted that more rain is in store for Kolkata and the southern districts including Nadia and Murshidabad, with one or two spells of intense downpour, along with gusty surface winds till Tuesday morning. 

A total of 14 National Disaster Response Force teams were deployed for relief and restoration work across districts in south Bengal, including Kolkata, North and South 24 Parganas, Howrah and Hooghly.