Cyclone Yaas Batters Odisha And Bengal, Leaves Trail Of Destruction

Kills Four, Damages Farmlands & Lakhs Of Houses

Balasore/Kolkata/Ranchi: Cyclone Yaas, packing winds of up to 130-145 kmph, whiplashed the country’s eastern coast on Wednesday, dumping heavy rain, damaging houses and farmlands, and leaving at least four persons dead — three in Odisha and one in Bengal — officials said. Thick sheets of rain blurred the vast coastline, as the cyclone made landfall around 9am near Dhamra port in Odisha, with surging waters swamping the mud and-thatch houses in the lowlying areas, where a massive evacuation drive has been undertaken to move more than 20 lakh people to safety.

The storm, which had weakened during the afternoon, had left the coastal states on edge, with the Bengal government claiming that at least one crore people have been affected by the calamity thus far, as it hollered on its destructive path towards Jharkhand.

Seawater inundated several villages in Bahanaga and Remuna blocks in the Balasore district, and Dhamra and Basudevpur in the Bhadrak district, Odisha’s special relief commissioner PK Jena said.