Cyclone Amphan leaves behind a trail of destruction in West Bengal, several deaths reported, confirms CM Mamata Banerjee

According to the West Bengal government, at least 10-12 people have died, while five deaths have been confirmed as the extreme super cyclone made landfall on Wednesday afternoon along the state's Sagar Island.

Cyclone Amphan crossed West Bengal-Bangladesh coast between Digha (West Bengal) and Hatiya Islands (Bangladesh) across Sunderbans near lat 21.65N & long 88.3E between 1530 & 1730 hrs IST of 20th May with wind speed of 155-165 gusting to 185 mph, the Indian Met Department stated.

The Met Department has predicted that the impact will remain till Thursday morning as the Cyclone Amphan is progressing towards Bangladesh.

Addressing media at state headquarters Nabanna, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said: "The calamity has been that of a large scale and the outcomes will be worse  than Coronavirus."

At least 10-12 people have lost their lives due to uprooting of trees or collapse of roofs, she informed.

Banerjee, who appeared to be evidently depressed, said: "The calamity has hit the entire state, and the impact has been high. We will start the restoration work but the entire process will take time as there have been massive losses of properties."

"The North 24 Parganas and the South 24 Parganas are heavily affected. Full south Bengal is finished. I don't think we can provide a better picture tomorrow," said Banerjee.

To questions, she said, "Am mentally very upset since the disaster is massive. We are facing a three-tier crisis presently-one there is the Coronavirus outbreak, then there is the migrants' incoming issues and also the calamity which has almost washed away the south Bengal."

The cyclone's wind speed was 133 km per hour as it left Kolkata towards North 24 Parganas.

Kolkata received heavy rains and witnessed huge gush of wind storms which damaged the roofs of several buildings and uprooted a massive number of trees across the city.

The eastern state reported five confirmed deaths so far. A girl in Howrah died after a wall collapsed on her at Shalimar. In North 24 Parganas, a 56-year-old woman in Minakhan and another youth in Basirhat were killed by uprooted trees.

In Kolkata, a mother and her son died in the Regent Park area, latest report said.

Amid warning of severe damage to properties, Amphan has already destroyed over 5,000 houses in Minakhan, Haroa, Basirhat Hingalgunj, Hasnabad areas of North 24 Parganas.

Most of the areas in Howrah and North 24 Parganas are facing power cuts due to heavy rainfall, uprooting of trees and flooding in many places.

According to television footage, roofs of several houses collapsed as a result of the high winds during the storm. 

Even there has been damages inside the state secretariat building-Nabanna.

Two teams of NDRF have already started road clearance work with cutting equipments at Shyampur Block in Howrah district.

Kolkata Police have also resorted to removing the uprooted trees although the full-scale operations will commence from Thursday.

The West Bengal CM said the threat is not over yet and advised people not to venture out of their homes.

Earlier, the state government evacuated around 5 lakh people from the coastal areas and shifted them to storm shelters.

However, as predicted, Odisha was saved this time from havoc damages.