Cyclone claims 1 in West Bengal

The impact of the severe cyclonic storm that hit Bangladesh claimed one life and damaged houses and crops in three coastal districts of West Bengal.

One person in North 24-Parganas district was killed when the branch of a tree fell on him on Thursday night, West Bengal Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta told newsmen after a high-level meeting.

The cyclone partly affected the coastal belt of east Midnapore, south and north 24 Parganas districts and 34 villages in south 24-Parganas district and 12 in north 24-Parganas district, Dasgupta said.

Details were not available from east Midnapore district where 385 houses were damaged fully and 766 partly and a population of 14,785 people were affected in the other two districts, Dasgupta said.

The cyclone also damaged crops in about 7,500 hectares in south and north 24 Parganas districts and affected mostly areas under Sagar Island, Namkhana, Kakdwip, Gosaba and Hingalganj, he said.

State Irrigation Minister Subhas Naskar said that some irrigation embankments were slightly affected in these districts.

Dasgupta said the alert sounded on Thursday for the cyclone was withdrawn.

Meanwhile, the weather office said there was a chance of mild showers in some areas in the next 24 hours as the storm was lying about 100 km north of Bangladesh's south coast in a weakened form.