After Cyclonic storm ‘Yaas’ made landfall in Odisha on Wednesday morning with a wind speed of 130-140 kmph, gusting to 155 kmph, at least four people died as several coastal towns of north Odisha and neighbouring West Bengal were impacted by it.  Yaas is the second cyclonic storm to hit India within a week after ‘Tauktae’ barrelled into its western coast, sinking Barge P305 and other marine trawlers, causing death and destruction.

Seawater entered into several villages in Bahanaga and Remuna blocks in Balasore district, and Dhamra and Basudevpur in Bhadrak district of Odisha, after the landfall of Yaas. In West Bengal, roads adjoining the sea beaches in Digha were inundated, with visuals showing people wading through chest-deep water.

The India Meteorological Department said that the storm, which has now weakened into a ‘severe cyclonic storm’, made landfall north of Dhamra in Odisha’s Bhadrak district. Sea waves were seen touching coconut tree-tops and cars were found floating in floodwaters during the landfall process of the cyclone.

As many as 15 lakh people were evacuated by authorities in West Bengal, whereas Odisha shifted 5.8 lakh people to safer places.

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West Bengal Chief minister Mamata Banerjee said that she will visit areas affected by the cyclone and high tide in Purba Medinipur, South and North 24 Parganas on Friday. She also added, “We have sent relief worth Rs 1 crore to areas affected by the cyclone and high tide.”

The IMD has issued a red warning for nine districts in Odisha that are expected to receive a downpour in the next 24 hours.

In this regard, the weather office said, “Heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places with isolated extremely heavy fall very likely to occur over the districts of Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Dhenkanal.”

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Cyclone Yaas ploughed its way into interiors gradually entering Jharkhand. The state was put on high alert on Wednesday amid the forecast that the storm would be hitting the state by midnight tonight.

Disaster Management Secretary Amitabh Kaushal stated that operations were being executed on war-footing in the vulnerable areas in East and West Singhbhum, besides some other districts, in view of the storm.

Jharkhand’s Chief Minister Hemant Soren directed officials to be on their toes to deal with any emergency situation. Authorities have already suspended all Covid-19 related activities till Thursday, in some parts of the state in view of heavy rainfall and lightning, besides high-speed wind which is likely to uproot trees. Cities including Ranchi are likely to be flooded due to heavy rainfall.

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In the states of Odisha and West Bengal, rescue operations are currently underway as National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams are clearing a large number of uprooted electric poles and trees to keep roads open in states hit by cyclone Yaas.

A spokesperson for the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) said that the force has so far evacuated thousands of people to safer places in close coordination with local administrations in both Odisha and West Bengal.