Several rivers passing through the Sunderbans flowed above the danger level on Tuesday, and with water gushing into many villages in areas like Hingalganj, Gosaba and Namkhana, district officials scurried to evacuate people from these areas ahead of the landfall of Cyclone Yaas.

“More than 2 lakh people from low-lying areas of South 24-Parganas were evacuated by this evening. We don’t want to take risks. More people will be evacuated by tonight.” said a senior government official.

Sources said they are undertaking the evacuation process to ensure that no life is lost in the cyclone though there are chances that Yaas might not be as devastating as last year’s Amphan.

“Many rivers are flowing above the danger level on Tuesday but the situation may not be the same on Wednesday when the cyclone makes landfall. The water level of the rivers in the Sunderbans went up on Tuesday for two reasons, high tide and easterly wind. The wind is likely to change direction on Wednesday to south-easterly, which might help the Sunderbans escape the devastation that Amphan had caused,” said a senior irrigation department official.

Last year, a number of blocks in South and North 24-Parganas like Sagar, Namkhana, Kakdwip, Patharpratima, Sandeshkhali and Hingalganj were devastated and remained inundated after several river embankments breached.

An North 24-Parganas district administration official alerts people to Yaas in Sandeshkhali. Pashupati Das

“This time we expect the effect will be much less as the cyclone is expected to make landfall near Balasore in Odisha. Amphan had made landfall in the Sagar Islands. Moreover, we are much better prepared this time compared with last year,” said another official.

Officials in the irrigation department said embankments are in a better condition this time as the majority of them were repaired after Cyclone Amphan had wreaked havoc in the region.

“More than 150km of river embankments were repaired, mostly in the Sunderbans, after Amphan. The damaged embankments were brought to the pre-calamity state. It is expected that these embankments would be able to withstand the impact of the cyclone to a great extent,” said a source.

The irrigation department, however, is not taking any chances and has deployed 36 heavy-duty pumps at points where water could gush in.

The irrigation department appeared confident about South and North 24-Parganas, but not so about East Midnapore. “As Amphan did not leave much impact on East Midnapore, embankment repair was not done thoroughly in the district last year,” said a source.