။ "Aila" leaves 29 dead, 1 lakh affected in West Bengal

A Women struggle with their umbrellas against a strong wind and rain in Kolkata >
Kolkata, 25 May : Atleast 29 people have died and more than 100,000 were rendered homeless as Cyclone Aila struck the West Bengal on Monday evening, the state's disaster management minister Mortaza Hossain told BBC. He said the death toll could rise.Twelve people died in the South 24-Pargana district that straddles the Sundarbans delta, mostly when the cyclone flattened their mudhouses. Six people died in Kolkata when huge trees uprooted by the cyclone fell on buses, cars and auto-rickshaws. The rest of the casualties were reported from Howrah(3 killed), Hooghly(4), North 24 Parganas(1) and East Midnapore(1). One each died in Nadia and Bankura. WB's Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said he had alerted the army, while BSF and police have begun rescue operations in Sunderbans in coastal South 24 Parganas district where hundreds of thatched houses had collapsed. Kolkata police chief Gautam Moham Chakrabarty who had asked schools to send home all students just after midday said tree-cutting teams from the city corporation have fanned out across Kolkata to clear roads blocked by uprooted trees. Massive tidal waves ravaged scores of coastal villages and the seaside resorts of Digha, Mandarmoni and Kanthi throughout the day. Fishermen were told to stay away from the sea but some were reported missing.
Kolkata Met office chief Gokul Chandra Debnath told the BBC that the cyclone struck the Bengal coast "close to the Sagar islands" in the Sundarbans delta , famous for its tigers, crocodiles and mangrove forests. ။ Photo : Reuters