Kolkata, May 27 (IANS): A day after Cyclone Yaas left behind a trail of destruction in West Bengal and Odisha, a ham radio operator, who had assisted the Bengal administration in establishing communication with the marooned people, has recounted the ordeal of scores of citizens who faced the brunt of the very severe cyclonic storm.
The cyclone in Bay of Bengal weakened into a ‘deep depression' on Thursday, and it is very likely to move further northwestwards and weaken gradually over the next few hours.
"We formed two groups and went to Ghoramara and Mousuni islands (both places are located at the remotest part of South 24 Parganas district on the edge of the sea) across the Buriganga river. These are mainly fishing islands where people from Kakdwip and Namkhana station themselves during the winter season for fishing.
"From Wednesday morning, there was torrential rain accompanied by strong wind. We neither had power supply, nor mobile connectivity. We were only in touch with our base station through Ham-Radio," the radio operator said.
"In the noon just after the landfall, there was an SOS that said some people were stuck 20 km away from the place where we were stationed. We tried to establish contact with the NDRF teams, but they were on the other side of the river and will not be able to reach. The state administration also looked helpless against the violent storm and blinding rain.
"We were at a relief camp then, and me and my two colleagues decided to move further south near the bay of the sea. It was difficult for us but we managed to reach a spot from where we could locate the people. There were children and women among the marooned people," the operator said.
"With no hope of any kind of administrative help, we reached the people and rescued them and brought them to the relief camp. There were hundreds of people in the camp but there was neither any food nor water. The administration could come with relief only after the storm and the rain got over. It was not possible to cross the raging river in a high-tide condition," he added.
"We had some dry food for ourselves but we couldn't take them out. There were many old people, women and children hungry for food and thirsty for water. The amount of food we had was not sufficient and so we decided to share their pain and stay without food or water all night," the operator said.
This is not the only case, but thousands of villagers across several villages in East Midnapore, South and North 24 Parganas had to live without food or water all through the day on Wednesday.
Villages in and around Digha, Mandarmani, Tajpur, Shakarpur, Hingalganj, Sagar, Sandeshkhali, Patharpratima, Kultali, Gosaba, Canning and Kakdwip are still under water and rescue operations are on to carry the marooned people to the rescue and cyclone centres.
"There are more than 500 villages which are under water. We have adequate stock of food and water, but due to rough weather, we cannot reach out to them to provide the necessary things. We are thinking of air-dropping goods once the weather becomes conducive," a senior state government official said.
"When we reached Joypur village near Digha in East Midnapore, it was under chest-high water and the children and the women were crying in fear from above the roof. We had to bring them down and carry them to a highland. Before we could manage to bring all of them to the safe zone, it became dark and we had to leave some people (mostly the male members of the village) in the hands of fate. It was not possible for us to take food or water for them. We had to wait for the morning to start a fresh rescue operation," said an NDRF personnel working in the Digha area.