Cyclone Amphan | At least 10-12 feared killed as of now: Mamata

Entire south Bengal is hit, says CM

Villagers repair a bank that was destroyed by sea waves at Bakkhali due to the landing of Cyclone Amphan, near Sunderbans area in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal on May 20, 2020.

At least 10-12 persons are feared killed as of Wednesday night, said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

“Entire south Bengal is hit. South Bengal is finished. I would request [the Centre] to provide humanitarian relief and not to engage in any politics,” said Ms. Banerjee.

Experts said the super cyclone was “the worst natural disaster to hit West Bengal in possibly a century.”

“The damage caused by Amphan is far far bigger than corona,” the Chief Minister said.

The cyclone also hit the State Secretariat, where Ms. Banerjee was located for last 24 hours, and damaged it too.

“We are in the middle of ruins,” Ms. Banerjee said.

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Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha said it was expected that the cyclone would make a landfall between Digha and Bangladesh, a wide area, but it actually hit Sagar Island at the edge of the Bay of Bengal, about 100 kilometres south of Kolkata.

“It engulfed a huge area hitting all districts [in south Bengal]. Now it has moved to North 24 Paraganas. It will stay there for 2-3 hours. The scale of damage is very huge in North and South 24 Paraganas,” Mr. Sinha said.

Unlike of her, the Chief Minister looked particularly dejected in Wednesday night’s press conference. She appealed to all to stay put in the relief centre and “not to leave the centres under any circumstances.”