Authorities have evacuated over 1 lakh from vulnerable areas in West Bengal before the cyclone made landfall on Sunday at around 08:30 pm between the Sagar Island in the state and Khepapura in Bangladesh.
Cyclonic storm Remal made landfall between the coasts of West Bengal and Bangladesh on Sunday late night has flooded streets and damaged homes in parts of West Bengal. Authorities have evacuated over 1 lakh from vulnerable areas in West Bengal before the cyclone made landfall on Sunday at around 08:30 pm between the Sagar Island in the state and Khepapura in Bangladesh.
Flight operations impacted
The Kolkata Airport suspended flight operations for roughly 21 hours, which led to 394 flights getting impacted. As per airport authorities, 170 domestic flights and 28 international flights were scheduled to depart from the Kolkata airport and 26 international flights were set to arrive.
“In view of Cyclone Remal’s impact on the coastal region of West Bengal, including Kolkata, a meeting was held with stakeholders, and it was decided to suspend flight operations from noon on May 26 to 9 am on May 27 due to predicted heavy winds and heavy to very heavy rainfall in Kolkata,” NSCBI airport director C Pattabhi said in a statement.
Trains cancelled due to Cyclone Remal
The Eastern and South Eastern Railways also cancelled some trains on routes to and from the coastal South and North 24 Parganas and Purba Medinipur districts as a safety measure. Train services in the Sealdah South section and Barasat-Hasnabad section of Sealdah division were also suspended from 11 pm on Sunday to 6 am on Monday, as per officials.
While 5 suburban trains were cancelled on Sunday, 8 local trains would not operate on Monday morning. The South Eastern Railway cancelled the Howrah-Digha-Howrah Kandari Express on Sunday. Some MEMU and EMU services to and from Digha were also cancelled on Sunday as well as Monday.
Kolkata Police’s command centre
Meanwhile, the Kolkata Police has established a unified command centre at its headquarters, comprising officials from power utilities, Public Works Department, Kolkata Municipal Corporation, National Disaster Response Force, Kolkata Municipal Development Authority (KMDA), fire and emergency services, the Disaster Management Group (DMG) and the police.