The West Bengal government on Saturday evacuated thousands of people in South 24 Parganas and Purba Medinipur districts and urged tourists in popular sea resorts to stay away from beaches, as cyclone ‘Jawad’ loomed large over the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh coast.
The administration evacuated around 11,000 people from the coastal areas to safer locations, while boats with fishermen returned to the shore in Kakdwip, Digha, Shankarpur and other coastal belts, an official said. A total of 19 teams of the National Disaster Response Force have been deployed in the state in the wake of the cyclone.
Also watch: Cyclone Jawad: most schools shut in Odisha, over 50000 evacuated in Andhra
Several places in the metropolis, North and South 24 Parganas, Purba and Paschim Medinipur, Jhargram, Howrah and Hooghly districts received light rainfall since morning, the weather office said. It has predicted heavy rain in the next two days.
The cyclone is expected to make landfall around noon on Sunday near Puri but it is likely to weaken into a deep depression by then.