Severe Cyclone Remal, which crossed the coasts of Bangladesh and West Bengal on Sunday night, has left a trail of destruction, claiming two lives and displacing around 200,000 people. The storm hit land between the Sagar Islands in Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district and Khepupara in Bangladesh near Mongla, causing extensive damage in the eastern Indian state’s coastal regions.
The cyclone made landfall around 9:30 pm on Sunday, bringing winds of 110-120 km/h, with gusts up to 135 km/h. The hardest-hit area was South 24 Parganas. Among the casualties were Md Sajid, 50, who was killed when a concrete chunk fell on him in Entally, Kolkata, and Renuka Mondal, 80, who died when an uprooted tree fell on her in Frazerganj, South 24 Parganas.
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Significant damage was reported in locations such as Sagar Island, Diamond Harbour, Jharkhali, Hingalganj, and Sandeshkhali. Kolkata received around 140 mm of rain between 8:30 am on Sunday and 5:30 am on Monday. The Kolkata airport was closed from noon on Sunday until 9 am on Monday, leading to the cancellation of 394 flights. Local train services in Kolkata also resumed at 9 am on Monday.
In North 24 Parganas, district magistrate SK Dwivedi reported no fatalities but noted substantial property damage. “Trees and electric poles were uprooted, and some houses were damaged. Around 30,000 people were evacuated to safer places, including cyclone shelters,” he said.
Sumit Gupta, Dwivedi’s counterpart in South 24 Parganas, reported over 150,000 people were relocated. “The maximum damage was reported in pockets such as Sagar, Namkhana, Basanti, Kultali, Patharpratima, and Gosaba,” Gupta stated.
In East Midnapore, an official reported that around 28,000 people were evacuated. “The storm uprooted trees and blew off the tin shades of kaccha houses. The rain damaged mud huts,” the official added.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) in Kolkata reported that the landfall process began around 9:30 pm on Sunday. By 10:30 pm, an IMD bulletin warned that gale winds of 110-120 km/h, with gusts up to 135 km/h, were affecting the coastal areas of Bangladesh and West Bengal. The eye of the cyclone entered the land at around 11:30 pm.
As the cyclone moved inland, it began to weaken while passing through districts like Nadia and Murshidabad in West Bengal, which were expected to experience heavy to very heavy rainfall on Monday. A red warning was issued for these districts.
The aftermath of Cyclone Remal highlights the vulnerability of the region to severe weather events and underscores the need for robust disaster preparedness and response mechanisms to mitigate the impacts of such natural calamities.
