Thick sheets of rain blurred the vast coastline, as the cyclone made landfall around 9 am near Dhamra port in Odisha, with surging waters swamping the mud-and-thatch houses in the low-lying areas, where a massive evacuation drive has been undertaken to move more than 20 lakh people to safety.
Cyclone 'Yaas' wreaked havoc in the beach towns in north Odisha and neighbouring West Bengal, as it hit the coast around 9 am with wind speeds of 130-140 kmph, inundating low- lying areas amid a storm surge, officials said.
The health condition of former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is stable and he is responding to commands, the private hospital where he is undergoing treatment said in a statement on Wednesday.
Four-time Gossaigaon MLA Majendra Narzary died due to post-Covid complications at a state-run hospital in Guwahati on Wednesday, its doctors said.
A 50-year-old man died after a branch of a tree fell on him at Panchupali village under Anandpur block of Keonjhar district around 7am on Wednesday amid Cyclone Yaas triggered heavy winds.
Suppliers of Russia’s Sputnik V Covid vaccine are in talks with private healthcare institutions in Assam, expressing willingness to deliver the doses.
The social media groups of residents in high-rises and residential complexes which were being used by resident welfare associations to provide help to the dwellers during the pandemic have pivoted to disseminate information regarding the cyclone and other logistical supports.
The Cyclone Yaas landfall has begun near Dhamra port in Odisha at 9.15am on Wednesday, even as strong winds and heavy tides saw seawater ingress in many coastal towns and villages in Odisha and West Bengal ahead of the landfall.
After getting 2 lakh doses of Covishield after midnight on Monday, Bengal received another consignment of 75,000 doses of Covaxin early on Tuesday.
While the cyclone amid pandemic has doubled the people’s agony, the ferocity of the storm would be less than what was predicted earlier, the IMD chief said, adding the overall impact may be less than the recent Cyclone Tauktae that hit Gujarat and last year’s Amphan that battered West Bengal and parts of north Odisha.
Former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was admitted to a private hospital on Tuesday with shortness of breath and drowsiness.
