Rain and winds at 165 km / h brought down trees, light poles, traffic lights and houses. Several areas are flooded, communications nonexistent. Damage to the John Vianney seminar. So far there are 15 dead.
Kolkata (AsiaNews) - The rains and winds of Cyclone Amphan, which hit Kolkata yesterday are "a worse disaster than Covid-19," according to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who was commenting on the damage caused by the violent storm.
West Bengal has reported around 2900 coronavirus infections and 250 deaths. The cyclone has killed 15 so far; much of the metropolis of 14 million inhabitants was without electricity for 17 hours; communications have been cut and are still not being re-established in many areas. Many locations, especially South and North 24 Parganas and East Midnapore are flooded; trees, light poles and traffic lights were felled and uprooted from the ground.
Rudolph D'Souza, who lives in the Kolkata Bishops’ residence, tells AsiaNews that "several trees have fallen around us. But the greatest damage is in the villages, where there are also many houses destroyed ".
Raja, who works in the John Vianney seminary, describes the damage they suffered: “Many trees have fallen; the surrounding wall collapsed in at least two places; some trees have fallen on the houses of the neighbors and we will have to compensate them; there is water, mud and leaves everywhere”(see photo 2,3,4).
Cyclone Amphan is the first major cyclone to hit Bengal Bay since 1999. Yesterday it hit the coasts and cities with winds of up to 165 km / h. Now the winds have lost intensity, but the storm front is still classified as a "severe cyclone".