The possibility of a squall moving from the Bay of Bengal into land at Sagar and its adjoining areas in South 24-Parganas on Tuesday morning has forced the state government to embark on high-level preparedness and issue a red alert of heavy to very heavy rainfall in the coastal districts of Bengal.
In its forecast, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a yellow warning about the likelihood of very heavy to heavy rainfall (7-11cm) at places in South 24-Parganas, and East and West Midnapore on Tuesday.
The forecast stated downpour with a squall. The IMD has also issued yellow warning for Calcutta and south Bengal districts like Howrah, Jhargram, Bankura and Hooghly. The wind speed is likely to be 40-50 kmph in coastal areas of South 24-Parganas and East Midnapore.
The possibility of a squall and heavy rain has left the administration of East and West Midnapore worried as large tracts of land in these two districts remain inundated following the recent depression-triggered downpours.
“Wind is always a threat for coastal pockets as it damages embankments but this time the rainfall has come as a major threat as vast stretches are already waterlogged,” said a senior government official.
He added that the state government had already cancelled leaves of all government employees till October 5 in view of the forecast.
“We have evacuated 35,973 persons from villages in coastal areas of our district. Teams of the NDRF and district disaster management infrastructure are ready,” said P. Ulaganathan, South 24-Parganas district magistrate.
The district administration had set up a temporary disaster monitoring centre at Kakdwip with a team of senior district officials and disaster management services.
“We had camped in Kakdwip to monitor depression on Tuesday. The main threat is that the area has faced several downpours… the soil is saturated with water. We are fearing inundation if the rainfall matches the forecast,” said Ritwick Hazra, officer-in-charge of disaster management in South 24-Parganas.
The forecast of heavy rain is a major threat for East and West Midnapore districts as vast areas of these districts are submerged with many embankments of Keleghai and Kapaleswari breached following rainfall earlier this month.
Saumen Mahapatra, state irrigation minister, said his department had been asked to stockpile construction materials at vulnerable points.
At least 500 villages of Patashpur and Bhagawanpur in East Midnapore and Sabang and Pingla in West Midnapore are underwater and there is already a shortage of shelters. Over a lakh people are in relief centres and the administration is struggling to identify fresh centres in these districts.
“We have alerted grassroots officials and opened control rooms in all 25 blocks of our district,” said Mrityunjay Haldar, district disaster management officer in East Midnapore.
Tourists in Digha and Mandarmani in East Midnapore and Bakkhali and Sagar in South 24-Parganas have been evacuated.
Hotel bookings in Digha, Mandarmani and other coastal hubs have been cancelled for three days Tuesday.
Bishnupada Roy, the block development officer of Ramnagar I under whose jurisdiction Digha falls. Guards have been deployed in the coastal areas to keep an eye on anyone trying to access beaches. Amid the preparations, the body of one of the two tourists who went missing near Talsari on Sunday was recovered on Monday.
Additional reporting by Subhasish Chaudhuri
