Devastating 120 kph winds and storm surges battered the coasts of Bangladesh as Cyclone ‘Remal’ left millions without power and claimed at least seven lives, flooding hundreds of villages. The Met Deparment said that on the morning of May 27 Remal turned into a cyclonic storm with constant wind speeds of about 80-90 kilometers per hour after the landfall around midnight of Sunday.
“It lay centered at 01:30 hrs IST of today, the 27th May, 2024 over Coastal Bangladesh and adjoining Coastal West Bengal, near latitude 21.9°N and longitude 89, 2°E about 115 km east of Sagar Islands (West Bengal), 105 km west-southwest of Khepupara (Bangladesh), 70 km southeast of Canning (West Bengal) and SO km south-southwest of Mongla (Bangladesh). The system would continue to move nearly northwards for some more time and then north-northeastwards and weaken gradually into a Cyclonic Storm by morning of May 27,” said IMD in a post on X.
On May morning Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose airport resumed its flights. For nearly twenty hours before that, airport services had been suspended. South section train services were resumed in Sealdah Division at nine o’clock.
There was destruction everywhere where Remal passed through. There has been great disturbance all along in various parts including Kolkata with roofs being blown off from hay huts; trees uprooted as well as electric poles caused by knocking down them.
“56 trees uprooted, attempts to remove the trees on,” said Kolkata Municipal Corporal Mayor Firhad Hakim.
