A menacing spectacle unfolded over the Bay of Bengal Sunday evening as Cyclone Remal churned towards the coasts of West Bengal and Bangladesh.
Social media has been flooded with a video capturing the storm's fury - a swirling vortex of charcoal clouds. However News Arena India could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.
Here is the footage shared by Bangladesh daily newspaper Daily Star:
Remal made landfall around 8:30 pm, bringing with it heavy rain and winds gusting up to 120 kilometers per hour.
“Cyclonic Storm Remal over Coastal Bangladesh and adj Coastal West Bengal is about 40 km northwest of Mongla, 90 km east of Kolkata, 90 km northeast of Canning. System is initially likely to move north-northeastwards, subsequently northeastwards and gradually weaken further,” the IMD said in its bulletin.
Weakening as it progresses northwards, the cyclone is expected to bring further disruption to the region.
West Bengal witnessed the brunt of Remal's initial fury. Over 10 lakh people were evacuated from vulnerable areas in the last two days. Heavy rain and strong winds lashed the state, causing widespread waterlogging and uprooting trees in Kolkata and surrounding areas.
Three people sustained injuries in rain-related incidents in the capital city.
Similar scenes unfolded across the border in Bangladesh. Here, the storm's impact proved more lethal. At least seven people lost their lives, five reportedly due to rain-related incidents in Barishal, Bhola, and Chattogram.
A man in Patuakhali was swept away by a storm surge while attempting to bring his family to safety, while another in Satkhira died after falling while seeking shelter.
Millions of Bangladeshis endured power outages exceeding 12 hours as the cyclone ravaged the country's coastal regions. Areas like Barisal, Bhola, Patuakhali, Satkhira, and Chattogram bore the brunt of the damage.
The Bangladeshi authorities deserve immense credit for their proactive evacuation efforts. Nearly 800,000 people were relocated from vulnerable areas on Sunday, a move that undoubtedly saved countless lives.
The IMD has issued a "red" alert for Sepahijala and Gomati districts in Tripura, anticipating Remal's lingering impact.
Meanwhile, the weather department predicts heavy to very heavy rainfall across Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur, and Tripura over the next two days.
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