It came, rampaged, and went: Remal claims seven lives in Bengal, swamps city, uproots over 400 trees

At least seven people died across south Bengal, including a father in Entally, hit by a falling piece of cornice as he stepped out to look for his son, who was at a friend’s place to watch the IPL final

Overhead cables being restored on a waterlogged Camac Street on Monday after Cyclone Remal had caused widespread destruction in the city: Bishwarup Dutta.

Debraj Mitra, TT, Calcutta, 28.05.24 : Cyclone Remal struck Calcutta at 91km an hour and brought up to 260mm of rain in 24 hours.

If you are wondering how much 260mm of rain means, here is a sample. Data from over 30 years say the average rainfall that Calcutta receives in May is around 120mm. In Calcutta’s rainiest month, July, the average monthly rainfall is around 370mm.

The downpour triggered a deluge and the gusts of wind brought down over 400 trees in just Calcutta and its neighbourhood.

At least seven people died across south Bengal, including a father in Entally, hit by a falling piece of cornice as he stepped out to look for his son, who was at a friend’s place to watch the IPL final.

A father and son died of electrocution in Memari, East Burdwan. An 80-year-old woman died inside her home on Mousuni Island in South-24 Parganas when a tree crashed on the house. Two more died of electrocution, at Panihati in North 24-Parganas and Maheshtala in South 24-Parganas. The seventh death was reported from Haldia.

Many parts of Calcutta faced power cuts between Sunday night and the early hours of Monday as the rain and winds peaked.

Metro services were crippl­ed till Monday afternoon as the overnight rain flooded Park Street and Esplanade stations.

Remal started making landfall — as a severe cyclonic storm — in the Sunderbans in Bangladesh around 8.30pm on Sunday. The storm was around 25km from the tip of the Indian Sunderbans, 110km from Canning and approximately 140km from Calcutta. The Sunderbans are spread over roughly 10,000sqkm, of which around 4,000sqkm are in India and the rest in Bangladesh.

Coordinates shared by the Met office suggest the point of landfall was Mandarbaria, a coastal pocket in Satkhira district of Bangladesh. It is 130km south-southwest of Mongla port in Bagerhat district of Bangladesh.

The core of the storm entered land between 10.30pm on Sunday and 12.30am on Monday, unleashing winds at 110kmph to 120kmph, with gusts clocking 135kmph.

The raging winds, storm surge and blinding rain breached several embankments and flattened homes, poles and trees in the coastal pockets of South-24 Parganas and North-24 Parganas.

A tree uprooted on Cathedral Road near the Birla Planetarium on Monday afternoon.: Bishwarup Dutta

By Monday morning, Remal had weakened from a severe cyclonic storm to a cyclone. The northward movement brought it closer to south Bengal and, around 5.30am, it was 70km northeast of Canning. Around 8.30am, Remal was 90km east of Calcutta, the closest it came to the city.

“By then, it had weakened into a cyclone. The maximum impact in Calcutta and neighbouring areas was between 11.30pm and 4.30am, when it was a severe cyclonic storm,” said H.R. Biswas, head of the weather section at the Regional Meteorological Centre, Calcutta.

The Met office recorded a maximum wind speed of 74kmph in Alipore around 12.45am. In Dum Dum, the maximum recorded wind speed was 91kmph around 12.15am.

Between 1pm on Sunday and 1pm on Monday, Ballygunge received 264mm of rain, Taratala got 206mm and Behala recorded 204mm, according to the readings at the booster pumping stations of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

The Met office recorded 190mm of rain in Alipore between 8.30pm on Sunday and 8.30pm on Monday. Alipore serves as the official record keeper for Calcutta. When Cyclone Amphan struck Calcutta on May 20, 2020, Alipore recorded 250mm of rain and windspeeds of over 100km an hour for several hours. Amphan had made landfall on Sagar Island, around 100km from Calcutta.

The rain brought by Remal continued well into Monday. The effect was visible in the fallen trees and branches, tilted poles and roads with knee-deep water.

Cyclone Remal is likely to move north-northeastwards and gradually weaken further into a deep depression by Tuesday morning.

The rain in Calcutta subsided in the evening, with the system around 150km from the city around 7.30pm.

The weather in Calcutta is likely to improve on Tuesday morning. But north Bengal is going to get drenched as the remnants of Remal move northeast. “On Tuesday, heavy (60mm and more) to very heavy rainfall (120mm and more) is likely in the districts of Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Cooch Behar. Heavy rain is likely in Darjeeling and Kalimpong,” said Somenath Dutta, deputy director-general at the India Meteorological Department, Calcutta. Scattered rainfall is expected in south Bengal, he added.