As many as 72 people have died in the Indian state of West Bengal as super cyclone Amphan carved a merciless path of destruction destroying thousands of homes and flooding low lying areas.
"There have been casualties. I announce a compensation of Rs 2.5 Lakh to the families of those who died in Cyclone Amphan," Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was quoted saying on Thursday by NDTV.
Mamata said she had never seen such a disaster before and will ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit the state and see the situation.
She had last evening said the impact of Amphan was worse than the coronavirus pandemic and claimed damages due to the cyclone could be in the region of Rs 1 lakh crore.
Indian Prime Minister Modi has said the entire nation stands with the state and "no stone will be left unturned" to help those affected, says the NDTV report.
West Bengal took the brunt of Cyclone Amphan, which barrelled into the coast with gusting winds of up to 185 km per hour. Strong winds with speed up to 125 kmph per hour upturned cars in Kolkata and left trees and electricity poles torn off and blocking roads.
Portions of several battered buildings came crashing down in Kolkata. The Kolkata airport, which had been shut, was left flooded and many structures within damaged.
The cyclone also ripped through the coastal districts of North and South 24 Paraganas of West Bengal with heavy rain and windstorm, blowing away thatched houses, uprooting trees, electric poles and flooding low lying areas.
The West Bengal government had evacuated some 500,000 people, but had not entirely anticipated the ferocity of the storm, said Chief Minister Mamata, who remained in her office during the storm on Wednesday.
Cyclone Amphan is only the second "super cyclone" to form over the Bay of Bengal since records began, and the first since 1999. Odisha was hit by a super cyclone that left nearly 10,000 dead in 1999.
