Kolkata, 4 December
The West Bengal government on Saturday evacuated around 18,000 people in coastal South 24 Parganas and Purba Medinipur districts and asked tourists at sea resorts to stay away from beaches, even as the Meteorological Department said Cyclone Jawad, Which is bigger in Odisha-Andhra Pradesh. The coast, on reaching Bengal, will turn into a deep depression and will start raining heavily over the coastal areas.
The Met Office said that light rain has occurred at many places in Mahanagar, North and South 24 Parganas, Purba and Paschim Medinipur, Jhargram, Howrah and Hooghly districts since Saturday.
The government has evacuated 17,900 people from the two coastal districts and opened at least 48 relief camps and shelters in view of the cyclone warning. Alipore Meteorological Department Director Sanjib Bandopadhyay said, “However, there is very little chance of Jawad intensifying into a cyclonic storm when it reaches the Bengal coast on Sunday before moving towards Bangladesh.”
“It will become a deep depression and cause rain over entire South Bengal and heavy rain in some coastal areas,” he said.
Heavy to very heavy rain will occur over some parts of Coastal areas of South 24 Parganas and Purbo Medinipur and light to moderate rain in other parts of both the districts. Bandopadhyay said Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly, Paschim Medinipur and North 24 Parganas would receive light to moderate rains on December 5. — PTI