JOIN USAmphan inflicts heavy damage in Kolkata
Kolkata was heavily battered by the cyclone Amphan (pronounced as UM-PAN) resulting into 15 deaths in the city. The state capital on Thursday was dotted with uprooted trees, toppled lamp posts and snapped power lines. Several roads were blocked in the city with uprooted trees.
The amount of devastation in the state capital becomes evident if one takes a look at the streets such as Chittaranjan Avenue in Central Kolkata, the heart of the city. A long stretch of the road is strewn with uprooted trees lying at a distance of barely 100 meters from each other.
Similar situation is prevailing in Lenin Sarani, Ganseh Avenue in Central Kolkata and Rash Behari Avenue and Patuli in the southern part of the city. Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim said that as per available information, 378 trees were uprooted in the city.
The streets are littered with snapped overhead tram power lines and uprooted traffic signals. At several places in the city trees fell on parked vehicles crumpling them like tin cans. At Hajra, an uprooted lamp post was seen perilously leaning on snapped power line. Fortunately, the power supply in the area was disconnected as precautionary measure.
Several areas of the city are without power since Wednesday night. Mobile communication in the city has been severely disrupted.
The Kolkata Airport located on the northern fringes of the city was badly hit by the storm. With wind speed going up to 133 kms per hour in the area and heavy rainfall, the runway and several hangers have become severely waterlogged.
Several glass window panes at the terminals were shattered by the storm. All flight operations at the airport were suspended till 5 am on Thursday due to the cyclone. The Airport authorities are yet to ascertain the full extent of the damage.