Cyclone Sitrang fast approaching Bengal
Cyclone Sitrang is predicted to hit the coast of Bengal on Monday and intensify all through Tuesday, as per updates from Indian Meteorological Department. The implication for Bengal is also that Kali Puja, on Monday, might get washed away.
But much bigger damages would happen if the cyclone and accompanying high winds and rain surge inland for too long.
The Sundarbans are supposed to get the worse of Cyclone Sitrang. After the monstrous flooding of the Sundarbans, and the resultant flooding of the low-lying croplands by seawater, in 2020 because of the super-cyclone Amphan, the Bengal government had initiated large-scale plantation of mangrove plants.
These have the natural ability to hold the soil together and keep it from getting washed away, but many of them had been gradually uprooted over the decades to make rooms for growing crops.
The replanting efforts have supposedly been successful, and it is a continuous programme monitored by the government. If Sitrang does strike hard, the success of the replanting will be put to the test.
Meanwhile, the state government has issued alerts to the fishermen, asking them not to venture out to the sea and for those already out, to come back quickly. Most of them have returned, as per government officials on the ground.
Cyclone helplines have been opened by the government, along with 24-hour control rooms, and also by the electricity providers. All leaves of government employees have been cancelled in case they are needed for emergency operations.
CESC Control Rooms: 1912 (toll-free), 98310 79666, 98310 837000
WBSEDCL Control Rooms: 19121 (toll-free), 89007 93503, 89007 93504
