Cyclone Amphan: ‘No Water, Electricity; Charging Phone in College’

Cyclone Amphan has ravaged West Bengal. 

(Photo Courtesy: Altered by The Quint)

Video Editor: Deepthi Ramdas

Since 20 May, when Cyclone Amphan made landfall in West Bengal, residents have been struggling with electricity, water, and phone connections in many areas. In Haldia, East Midnapore, I am facing the same situation.

In the morning at 2:30 am, the electricity supply was cut. The power came back in the morning for 30 minutes before it went off again. Strong winds started blowing from mid-morning and intensified by 3 pm. By 3:30 pm it became even worse. We thought that was the worst of cyclone but worst was yet to come.

Destruction caused by Cyclone Amphan. (Photo Courtesy: Accessed by The Quint)

Everything thing was flying around. Rooftops, tins, asbestos covers, mud house tiles and what not! Then the wind slowed down for few minutes before hitting everything again.

The actual intensity of the cyclone was felt around 4:30 pm and it continued till 8 pm, slowing down only by midnight.

The doors of my house on the second floor were vibrating. The latch of our bathroom door broke due to winds, windows got shattered. The water pipes of tanks were bent down. The tank covers are flew off. The situation was horrible.

My mother and I had to hold down the entrance door to prevent it from breaking.  

My mother was crying and consoling her wasn’t enough to save us from the disaster. It was terrible for us, but it was worse thinking about those who did not have the privilege of having a roof over their head.

Most shops were not able to withstand the storm. (Photo Courtesy: Accessed by The Quint)

The destruction caused by Cyclone Amphan is tremendous. The whole market nearby had been demolished by the winds. Nothing was left. No shop was able to withstand the storm. Students of my college in Haldia are running a fund-raising campaign to help the shop-owners near the campus.

Essential Supplies Cut

As of 24 May, there is no electricity, no water supply. All the the electric poles have fallen.

In my area, there is a municipality water tank where water is to be supplied but it has been left empty since 22 May. There is no water supply or other arrangement by the municipality. There is a primary school where we have been going to bring the water for our daily use as there is a tubewell there. We somehow managed a generator to load water in our water tank that will last us another three days.

There is a garbage dump in front of our house and it is overflowing. No municipality car came to collect the garbage. Everything has been dumped over here since 20 May, post-Amphan.

Many trees were uprooted. (Photo Courtesy: Accessed by The Quint)

Luckily, our college has generators and they have allowed us to come to college to collect drinking water and to charge our phones. I don’t know when the situation will stabilise.

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