Flights Suspended At Kolkata Airport; 2 Electrocuted During Tornado Ahead Of Cyclone Yaas

Kolkata: Flight operations at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport here have been suspended between 8:30 am and 7:45 pm on Wednesday, reported news agency ANI.

Cyclone Yaas has intensified into a very severe cyclonic storm and is expected to make landfall between Dhamra Port and Balasore on the Odisha coast at noon on Wednesday with wind speed of upto 185 km per hour. It is likely to pass over Bengal too.

However, the cyclone was preceded by a tornado at Chinsura in Hooghly district, in which two people were electrocuted, according to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The tornado that lasted for around 90 seconds, damaged 40 houses, the Chief Minister said at a press conference on Tuesday.

The local panchayat members are helping people to shift to a school building.

Detailing the measures taken by the administration, Mamata Banerjee said 54,000 officers and relief workers, 2 lakh police and Home Guard personnel, along with National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams, will be deployed to tackle the storm’s fallout.

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