Since landfall, after Dana's long tail started to show its sting, a total of four deaths were reported across Bengal, of which one was in Kolkata. None of these deaths was directly attributed to the storm's fury, however.
Three of the deaths were from electrocution: in south Kolkata's Bhowanipore, 20-year-old Saurabh Prasad Gupta was electrocuted to death in a waterlogged street; a person died of electrocution in Patharpratima, South 24 Parganas, while trying to fix broken cables in his home; and, on Friday morning, civic volunteer Chandan Hazra (32), accompanying a police team, was electrocuted to death when he accidentally touched a live wire in Bud Bud, Burdwan East.
Bengal govt will keep vigil over the next 48 hours before 2.1 lakh people moved to cyclone shelters return home, CM Mamata Banerjee indicated on Friday. She said people had been advised to remain in the shelters until the weather cleared up. She is likely to undertake an aerial survey of affected districts, sources said.
Kolkata, which had expected the worst, was largely spared, with the Alipore Met office recording the highest wind speed of 40kmph during landfall. The city would remain cloudy but the cover would thin out and only light to moderate rain was expected, said H R Biswas, head of the weather section at Regional Meteorological Centre, Kolkata.
While areas in south Kolkata, such as Jodhpur Park and Ballygunge, received very heavy rain throughout Friday (163mm and 124mm respectively), areas in the northern part of the city, such as Maniktala and Belgachia, received 83mm and 69mm respectively till the evening. The rain, along with Hooghly high tide, was enough to keep most of Kolkata waterlogged for most of the day.
The storm and high tide coincided to cause widespread damage to standing crops, particularly winter veggies.
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