This story is from November 10, 2019

West Bengal: Thousands on coast shifted before cyclone Bulbul

Bengal’s coastline stretching over 3,500km in the Sunderbans and 79km from Digha to Khejuri in East Midnapore remained on tenterhooks throughout Saturday as heavy rain, accompanied by strong winds, lashed the shores, villages, beaches and towns ahead of Cyclone Bulbul’s landfall on Sagar Island at 8.30pm.
West Bengal: Thousands on coast shifted before cyclone Bulbul
Villagers from Jharkhali in Sunderbans being shifted to safety
SUNDERBANS/DIGHA: Bengal’s coastline stretching over 3,500km in the Sunderbans and 79km from Digha to Khejuri in East Midnapore remained on tenterhooks throughout Saturday as heavy rain, accompanied by strong winds, lashed the shores, villages, beaches and towns ahead of Cyclone Bulbul’s landfall on Sagar Island at 8.30pm.
There was no report of casualties or damage to homes till reports last came in, though the gusty winds did uproot trees in the Sunderbans and in Digha.

Most villagers in the interiors of coastal tourist spots, such as Digha, Mandarmani, Sankarpur and Tajpur, were initially loath to leave their homes and move to the safety of flood shelters despite teams, comprising district administration officials and cops, appealing to them since Saturday morning. After much coaxing, some of the residents finally agreed to move to shelters. The same scene played out in Khejuri. East Midnapore DM Partha Biswas said, “The district administration has opened 64 shelters to house evacuees from coastal villages. So far, we have convinced 22,500 villagers to shift there. All of them are from low-lying areas, such as Ramnagar I Block, Sankarpur, Tajpur, Chandpur and Talgachari I gram panchayat, which faced flooding.” Many living in mud houses chose to put up at their neighbours’ concrete houses rather than moving to the administration’s shelters.
Earlier, an administrative meeting presided over by Digha Sankarpur Development Authority chairman and Contai MP Sisir Adhikary discussed ways to keep Digha secure. Relief measures for evacuees at the shelters were also discussed. “The emphasis is to ensure the evacuees are safe, get adequate food and live in hygienic circumstances during their stay at the shelters,” the DM said.
In the Sunderbans, the administration kept monitoring the wind speed and height of waves. Officials feared any further increase in the wind speed —it reached around 120km an hour by late evening—and the height of waves would leave a trail of destructions in the Sunderbans. South 24 Parganas DM P Ulganathan said, “The district administration, cops and disaster management and relief teams worked round-the-clock to prevent loss of life. We have shifted around 12,000 people to shelters and hope to increase the number to 22,000 by night. We have opened 18 shelters. The height of waves, too, is being monitored. Our embankments are high enough to withstand waves up to 3.5m in height.”
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who kept put at Nabanna, said, “We have evacuated nearly 1.6 lakh people from districts and Kolkata, but it was an uphill task as most were not ready to leave their homes. Adequate arrangement has been made for food and dry clothes.”
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