19 killed as storm lashes West Bengal

KOLKATA: Nineteen people were killed and scores injured in a severe cyclonic storm that lashed West Bengal's South 24 Parganas and East Midnapore districts in the early hours on Wednesday.

Of the deaths, 18 occurred in South 24 Parganas district and one in East Midnapore district, official sources said.

The Sunderbans in South 24 Parganas district bore the brunt of the storm with 10 blocks seriously affected with Sunderbans Development minister Kanti Ganguly, who led a rescue and relief team, camping at Raidighi from where he was monitoring the situation.

The storm destroyed 10,050 dwellings and partly damaged another 18,449, the sources said. There was no electricity in large parts of the district as electric poles were toppled by the storm, the sources said.

The storm was caused by the formation of a well-marked low pressure area over the northwest Bay and adjoining coastal north Orissa and gangetic West Bengal.

The state government sanctioned Rs three crore for relief and rehabilitation in South 24 Parganas and Rs 1.50 crore in
East Midnapore district in consultation with Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Finance minister Ashim Dasgupta said.

Dasgupta said an alert was sounded in the coastal areas in view of the forecast of more rain in the next 48 hours.