A state government-run tourist cottage and a few shops were severely damaged and several electric poles and trees uprooted when a tornado-like strong column of wind lashed a 500-metre radius on Temple Road at Sagar Island in South 24-Parganas on Monday morning.
The spiralling tornado-like storm, which originated in the Bay of Bengal, rose to around 10 feet before sweeping the area for about two minutes at 10.45am, unleashing panic among traders and tourists.
It was accompanied by low pressure-induced rain.
Monday’s downpour left several areas in South 24-Parganas waterlogged and damaged at least 419 houses, prompting the district administration to evacuate 9,825 persons to safer places.
Corrugated sheets, which flew off the roof of tourist cottage Sagar when a column of wind hit the area in South 24-Parganas on Monday, lie on the ground. Mehaboob Gazi
Sources in the Indian Meteorological Department said on Monday evening that South 24-Parganas had experienced 75mm of rain in past 24 hours.
However, the talking point in Sagar was the column of wind. Its impact was so strong that corrugated sheets on the roofs of all 20 rooms of the tourist cottage “Sagar” flew off in seconds and many parts of the building collapsed.
The tourist cottage is run by the local panchayat samity.
Block development officer Sudipto Mondal said: “A heavy column of spiral wind that stayed barely for 2 minutes unsettled everything on a stretch of road close to the Kapil Muni temple at a time when we are preparing for the upcoming Ganga Sagar Mela. The Sagar tourist cottage has been severely damaged as at least 37 full-length corrugated sheets of the cottage and its ancillary units have been blown to almost a kilometre away.”
“Twenty rooms of the tourist cottage have been damaged as some of the walls have collapsed or cracked. Air-conditioning machines have been damaged and require immediate repair since the building becomes a control room during the Ganga Sagar Mela,” the BDO said, adding the Kapil Muni temple was spared.
South 24-Parganas district magistrate P. Ulaganathan added: “The tornado-like circulation of wind damaged the Sagar cottage but luckily claimed no human life.”
However, the torrential rain caused inundation in low-lying Gosaba, Canning-I and II, Kakdwip, Diamond Harbour-I & Diamond Harbour-II, Budge Budge-II, Thakurpukur-Maheshtala block as well as Maheshtala, Baruipur, Rajpur-Sonarpur, Joynagar-Majilpur municipalities, Ulaganathan said in a press release. Heavy downpour also hampered train services in the district on Monday because of waterlogged railway tracks.
Fearing more floods in low-lying areas, especially the coast amid the spring tide scheduled on Monday night, the district administration has deployed 350 volunteers and 15 boats for rescue services.
