One person died when a tree fell on him in Kolkata, as the very severe cyclonic storm Bulbul weakened into a severe cyclonic storm on Saturday evening and started its landfall near Sagar Island in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district with a gale wind speed of 115-125 km per hour, gusting to 140 km per hour.
Khejuri, Nandgram, Nayachar and Ramnagar in East Midnapore and Kakdweep and Bakkhali in South 24 Parganas districts in the state's coastal region were worst-affected, as trees got uprooted, roofs gave way and houses and shops suffered damage. Power supply was also disrupted in many areas.
"The very severe cyclonic storm Bulbul has weakened into a severe cyclonic storm and started its interaction with the land. The whole process starting with the entry of the forward sector of wall cloud, followed by the centre and the wall cloud at the rear will take three hours to complete," said Regional Meteoroogical Centre director G.C. Das.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has been personally monitoring the situation along with top officials from the control room at the secretariat Nabanna, said 1,64,315 persons have been evacuated from low-lying areas on the coast.
Bakkhali was ravaged as the rain and storm snapped internet links and telephone lines, while power supply was disrupted from early in the morning. "We are operating a generator. We can provide this service till midnight as all petrol pumps are closed," said a hotel owner.
The fishermen have been barred from venturing into the sea adjoining the Sundarbans delta on Saturday and Sunday.
Hotels in the coasal tourist resorts of Digha, Bakkhali, Mandarmoni, Talsari, Shankarpur and Bakkhali have been largely emptied of tourists.
In south Kolkata's Ballygunge, a youth died when he was crushed under a falling tree. Another tree fell on a car in Regent Park area, but the occupant escaped unharmed.
Flight operations in the city's NSCBI airport have been suspended from 6 p.m. on Saturday to 6 a.m. on Sunday to prevent any damage.
Suburban train services in Lakshmikantapur-Namkhana section of Eastern Railway were halted as a precautionary measure since 7 p.m., while train movement in Baruipur and Diamond Harbour sections were disrupted after an uprooted tree fell on the railway track near Rasulpur.
The South Eastern Railway has also cancelled several trains including Howrah-Panskura Digha local and Panskura-Digha local.
The met office said light to moderate rainfall with isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely to continue over East Midnapore, West Midnapore, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas during the next 12 hours.
The RMC update expressed apprehension of a storm surge of about one to two metres height in North and South 24 Parganas districts and 0.5 to 1 m height in East Midnapore district above the astronomical tide which is likely to inundate low-lying areas.
The maximum extent of inundation is likely to be around two kilometres over the two Parganas.
The weather office predicted that gale wind speed reaching 110-120 km per hour gusting to 135 km per hour is likely to prevail along and off East Midnapore, West Midnapore, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas districts during the next six hours and decrease thereafter.
Braving the scorching heat, Tripura East records over 80 pc turnout
Despite the scorching heat, over 80 per cent of the 14 lakh voters cast their votes in the Tripura East Lok Sabha constituency where polling was held under a heavy security cover on Friday.
NCPCR initiates action against Mehbooba Mufti for 'using school children for election campaign'
In a significant development, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) on Friday took cognisance of a report on 'X' accusing PDP President and Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat candidate Mehbooba Mufti of using school children for campaigning in the election.
PM Modi takes opposition to cleaners on EVMs, once again
Calling it a "historic day", Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday lauded the Supreme Court's decision to dismiss a batch of petitions seeking mandatory cross-verification of the votes cast in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) with Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips.
LS Poll: Over 1000 villagers did not cast vote; shows protest against bad road condition, improper drinking water facility
Over 1000 villagers of Maldapara of Gandacherra subdivision in Dhalai Tripura district on Friday boycotted the second phase of polling to East Tripura constituency and refrained from casting their vote as part of their agitation against bad condition of road in their village.
PM Modi roasts Cong, says former PM's video on 'priority for Muslims' demolishes its canards
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday stepped up his offensive on the Congress and said that his plainspeak on the party’s double standards has ruffled many feathers in the INDIA bloc, so much so, that they have launched a tirade at him for speaking the truth.
CBI recovers huge cache of arms, explosives from house of Shahjahan’s relative at Sandeshkhali
The CBI on Friday afternoon conducted a raid at the residence of a relative of suspended Trinamool Congress leader Sheikh Shahjahan at Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas District and seized a huge cache of firearms and explosives.
Tripura records 54.47% turnout recorded till 1 PM in 2nd phase polling to East
The second phase of polling for the East Tripura Parliamentary constituency is underway amid tight security coverage, while 54.47% voter turnout was recorded till 1 pm on Friday. Voting commenced at 7 am and will continue until 6 pm. Tripura recorded the highest turnout at 36.42 per cent till 11 am.
DMs, SPs of violence-hit MP districts transferred
The farmers agitation entered its eighth day on Thursday. The peasants have been on strike since June 1, demanding loan waiver and fair price for their produce.