Many places in East Midnapore, Howrah, North and South 24 Parganas got marooned on Wednesday after river and sea water gushed into villages following damage to river embankments by the “unprecedented” high storm surge soon after Cyclone Yaas made a landfall near Dhamra port in Odisha on Wednesday.

The toll has been, however, limited to one. A fisheries worker reportedly drowned in East Midnapore.

Sources in the irrigation department said though the exact extent of damage was yet to be ascertained as reports from the ground did not reach the Jala Sampad Bhavan at Salt Lake till Wednesday evening, preliminary estimates suggest nearly 156km of river embankments in these four districts were either breached or damaged.

“It appears that 156 km of river embankments in at least 150 spots were either damaged or breached. As a result, a number of villages and settlements in the riverine areas of these districts were inundated. The cyclone created a flood-like situation in these districts,” said a senior irrigation department official.

An ailing woman and a goat kid being shifted following a breach in an embankment of the Goureshwar at Hingalganj in the same district Pashupati Das

Though Yaas did not leave an impact like Cyclone Amphan did last year, the long-term damage to embankments has been severe this time, officials said.

“As thousands of villages in the four districts witnessed severe inundation, the roads and mud houses will bear a severe impact. Pisciculture and agriculture will take a hit, which will definitely deal a blow to rural economy amid the pandemic,” said a source.

According to an official in the irrigation department, river embankments bore the brunt of the cyclone this time because of an unprecedented high storm surge.

According to sources, storm surge is the abnormal rise in seawater or river water level during a storm, which is caused primarily by winds pushing water onshore.

“Earlier, we saw a surge of a maximum of 1 metre in river water level in these areas. Even during Amphan, the surge was within 1 metre. But this time it was between 1.5 and 2 metres in several places, which damaged embankments,” said an official.

According to sources, breaches in river embankments left thousands of villages and settlements in areas like Kakdwip, Samar, Namkhana, Patharpratima, Bakkhali, Sandeshkhali and Hingalganj in South and North 24 Parganas inundated.

In East Midnapore, at least 12 blocks were marooned in the surge in sea water and river water levels. Embankments along rivers Haldi, Hooghly and Rupnarayan were breached in several places, causing the disaster. Rising seawater and dyke breaches displaced nine lakh people. Twelve blocks in East Midnapore’s coastal area were flooded.

Parts of Howrah’s Udayanarayanpur were also submerged with the surge in river water level.

Irrigation department officials said repair of damaged embankments would start soon as the department had stacked construction materials in 112 places and repair agencies have been appointed.

Sources in Nabanna said inundation created havoc in parts of four districts but the loss of life could be prevented because of precautionary measures like evacuation of residents from low-lying areas.

“We have received reports of one death in East Midnapore. More loss of lives could be averted as nearly 15 lakh people were evacuated.”

The deceased was identified as Kanai Giri, 56. The fisheries worker was drowned in a flooded road in the district’s Ramnagar on his way to work.

The morning high tide apart, another was also scheduled on Wednesday evening, causing further alarm, East Midnapore additional district magistrate Sudipta Porel said.

Additional reporting by Anshuman Phadikar