Social distancing goes for a toss as 3 lakh evacuated ahead of cyclone in WB

Social-distancing measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 have gone for a toss in West Bengal with the evacuation of around three lakh people from coastal areas of the state ahead of the impending super cyclonic storm Amphan.

As a precautionary measure, the state government has also urged the Railways not to run any Shramik Special trains to the state from Wednesday (May 20) until the next morning as the super cyclone is expected to make landfall along the West Bengal coast on May 20.

“It will hit West Bengal and make landfall near Digha and Hatiya Islands (in Bangladesh) close to Sundarbans tomorrow [May 20] afternoon or evening with maximum sustained wind speed of 155-165 kmph gusting to 185 kmph,” the meteorological department said in its latest bulletin.

Amphan (named by Thailand) will lose some steam as it approaches landfall, according to the department.

“Storm surge of about 4-6 metres is likely to inundate low lying areas of South and North 24 Parganas (districts) and about 3-4 metres over the low lying areas of East Midnapore district of West Bengal during the time of landfall,” a department official said.

The weatherman said six districts of the state, namely East Midnapore, South and North 24 Parganas, Kolkata, Hooghly and Howrah, would be the worst-affected.

“All precautionary measures have been taken to deal with the renewed crisis. At least three lakh people have been shifted to safer places from three coastal districts of the state,” Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said.

Earlier, Union Home Minister Amit Shah phoned the Chief Minister to know about the state’s preparedness and assured all help from the Centre. Already 19 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has been deployed in the state and two have been put on standby.

To monitor the situation, the Chief Minister will stay put at the control room set up at the state secretariat, Nabanna. She will stay there until the cyclone makes landfall.

In South 24 Parganas, around 2 lakh people have been evacuated; 50,000 in North 24 Parganas, 40,000 in East Midnapore and 10,000 in West Midnapore.

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In the past, thousands of people had been evacuated to cyclone shelters built along the Bay of Bengal coast in the state. But this time, most of the shelters are already being utilised as COVID-19 quarantine centres.

“We are keeping people at school buildings and tourist resorts wherever necessary,” said Jayanta Naskar, a Trinamool Congress’s MLA, whose constituency Gosaba is one of the main deltaic islands in the Sundarban region.

“Though we are trying to maintain social distancing as far as possible, it is not practically possible to adhere to all protocols while evacuating lakhs of people to safety,” he added.