Tornado warning for Kolkata as Cyclone Yaas makes landfall in Odisha; CM asks residents to stay inside – Times Now

Kolkata: As Cyclone Yaas made landfall on the coast of Odisha on Wednesday morning, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee issued a warning for the residents of Kolkata asking them not to step out of their homes at least till 12 noon. Mamata said there were chances of tornadoes forming in the capital city in view of the very severe cyclonic storm Yaas.

Authorities have already taken precautions in Kolkata and the city airport is already shut since morning.

“In view of the weather warning by IMD over Cyclone Yaas, flight operations at Kolkata Airport will be suspended from 0830 IST upto 1945 IST on 26.05.2021. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused,” it was informed yesterday.

However, in relief for Kolkata, an official of the Regional Met Centre had said yesterday that there was no possibility of a Cyclone Amphan-like situation in Kolkata, when the city was battered by high wind speed and rains.

“It will experience maximum wind speed of 65-75 kmph gusting to 85 kmph during landfall,” the official said.

What happened in Hooghly and North 24 Parganas districts Tuesday?

It may be noted here that at least two persons were killed due to electrocution and some 80 houses partly damaged after they were hit by storms in Hooghly and North 24 Parganas districts yesterday. Mamata Banerjee described the storms as ‘tornadoes’.

The storm hit the Bengal districts hours before the landfall of Cyclone Yaas near Odisha’s Dhamra Port in Bhadrak district.

As a precautionary measure, the West Bengal government has already evacuated more than nine lakh people to safe shelters in view of the cyclone.

“This was unexpected… The tornado wreaked havoc in Chinsurah, partly damaging 40 houses. Two persons were also electrocuted to death,” the CM said.

In North 24 Parganas district’s Halisahar, the ‘tornado’ lasted a little over a minute, impacting 40 houses and injuring five people, she added.