East Medinipur (West Bengal) [India], May 27 (ANI): Despite an alert issued from the administration and India Meteorological Department (IMD), fishermen were seen fishing in the Mohana near Digha area in West Bengal's East Medinipur district on Monday in the wake of the landfall of Cyclone 'Remal'.
The IMD has issued an alert message and warned the fishermen not to venture into North Bay of Bengal along and off West Bengal and Bangladesh coasts on May 27.
On the other hand, a large number of tourists visited Digha beach on Monday.
The Cyclonic Storm "Remal" (pronounced as "Re-Mal") over Coastal Bangladesh and adjoining Coastal West Bengal moved nearly northwards, with a speed of 15 kmph during past 06 hours and lay centered at 0830 hrs IST of today, the 27th May, 2024 over the same region, near latitude 22.8°N and longitude 89.3°E about 40 km northwest of Mongla (Bangladesh), 90 km east of Kolkata (West Bengal), 90 km northeast of Canning (West Bengal), 130 km northwest of Khepupara (Bangladesh) and 140 km southwest of Dhaka (Bangladesh).
West Bengal Power Secretary Santanu Basu said, "South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hoogly, parts of Medinipur, Murshidabad, and Nadia districts have been affected by cyclone Remal the most. We started our restoration work early in the morning today..."
"We have been able to restore 45 out of the 50 substations that were affected and 80% of the restoration work, be it in the substation level or in the downstream infrastructure with respect to the 33kV feeders or the 11 kV feeders has been restored. In certain areas in the North 24 Parganas, we have been unable to restore 6-7 substations because of the wind and rain... In South 24 Parganas we have been able to restore almost all the substations... We have engagements of additional gangs from the nearby districts which have moved to North and South 24 Parganas to help in fastening up the restoration," he said.
The Cyclone is likely to move north-northeastwards, and gradually weaken further into a Deep Depression by night of Monday.
"The severe cyclonic storm 'Remal' has weakened since making landfall last night and is expected to downgrade into a deep depression by this evening," the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) announced on Monday.
The NDRF made the announcement based on the latest update from the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
"The current information that we have from the IMD is that the severe cyclonic storm has now transformed into a cyclonic storm. The wind speed, which was earlier about 110 to 120 km/hr during landfall, now has come down to 60 to 70 km/hr," NDRF Deputy Inspector General Mohsen Shahedi told ANI when asked about the status of 'Remal' after its landfall.
Pointing out the downfall in the intensity of the cyclone, Shahedi said "This is a big relief and it is expected that by evening today, this will further change into a deep depression." (ANI)
