Members of NDRF patrol along a shore ahead of Cyclone Yaas in Digha
BHUBANESHWAR/KOLKATA: With cyclone Yaas, which has now intensified into a very severe cyclonic storm, on course to hit land in Balasore in Odisha on Wednesday noon, a massive evacuation drive was conducted in Odisha and West Bengal on Tuesday, moving over 20 lakh people from low-lying area to safer zones.
While West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee claimed about 11 lakh were evacuated, the Odisha government said close to 10 lakh people were moved. Kolkata, which continues to shudder at the memories of destruction left behind by cyclone Amphan last year, breathed a sigh of relief after the Met department declared the landfall site to be about 300km away in Odisha.