Cyclone Yaas live updates: Bihar govt announces compensation of Rs 4 lakh each for families of those died due to cyclone

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Mamata Banerjee will meet at the Kalaikunda Air Force Base in West Midnapore on Friday afternoon for a “review meeting” over damage due to Cyclone Yaas.

As many as four people, including two minors, died in different parts of Jharkhand as Cyclone Yaas, which entered the state as a deep depression on Thursday morning, left behind a trail of death, deluge and darkness and advanced towards Bihar at midnight.

In the past 12 months, there have been four cyclonic storms in Bay of Bengal — severe cyclone Amphan (May 16-21), severe cyclone Nivar (Nov 22-26), cyclonic storm Burevi (Nov 30-Dec 5) and Yaas (May 23-27). Climate scientists say the cyclogenesis or triggering of very severe cyclonic storms in Bay of Bengal is a result of climate change. The water around the Indian sub-continent is warmer than usual. The threshold value for sea surface temperatures (SSTs) for formation of cyclones is 28°C, but SST over the Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean 30°C-32°C.

If Kolkata received moderate and sporadic showers during the cyclone on Wednesday, it was drenched by a surprise and unforeseen deluge a day after Yaas — now reduced to a depression — had travelled 400km away from the city.

Cyclone Yaas has caused damages of around Rs 15,000 crore in Bengal, according to initial estimates, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on Thursday, while announcing a package of Rs 1,000 crore in immediate relief in the form of a scheme named Duare Tran (doorstep relief).

The impact of cyclone Yaas was felt on Thursday evening when heavy rainfall lashed Patna. The weather, which had been moderately wet since morning, deteriorated as the day went by.

The impact of cyclone Yaas, which weakened into a depression in Jharkhand and Bihar on Thursday, was witnessed in the form of light to moderate rainfall in the state in the last 24 hours.

State water resources department has taken all the precautionary measures to avert any crisis arising due to excess rain caused by cyclone Yaas, minister Sanjay Jha said on Thursday.

More than 24 hours after making landfall in coastal Odisha, cyclone Yaas made its impact felt in Patna, southwest and central Bihar districts on Thursday as continuous rainfall and winds blowing at 20-25kmph were witnessed.