West Bengal: Due to cyclone ‘Sitang’, the festivities of Diwali were drenched amidst rain.

The day began with intermittent rain, forcing people to stay indoors as most of Kolkata’s streets fell into silence on the evening of the festival. It is worth noting that the city is known for its cheerful energy during the festival and the streets are thronged with idols of Goddess Kali to visit the markets and see the dazzling lights of the city.

As the coastal districts of the state were being evacuated due to the cyclone, many of them faced light to moderate rainfall. Apart from this, Kolkata also remained cloudy with light rain.

Wind gusting to 33 kmph in North-North-East direction, Cyclone ‘Sitang’ made landfall from Sagar Island in the afternoon with a speed of 260 kmph. It is likely to intensify further into a severe cyclonic storm on Monday night.

The Meteorological Office said the cyclone will cross the Bangladesh coast between Tincona Island and Sandwich near Barisal early Tuesday. According to the IMD, this system extremely affected the districts of South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, Purba Medinipur and adjoining areas of West Bengal’s Paschim Medinipur on Monday.

These states will rain due to ‘Sitang’ cyclone

According to the weather agency, the cyclone will have a huge impact on the Sundarbans region. Apart from Kolkata, Cyclone Sitang will bring extremely heavy rains to the North Eastern region of India, i.e. Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur on Monday.

The Meteorological Department said that on Tuesday, heavy to very heavy rains will occur in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura.

Even as the roads remained deserted due to heavy rains, that could not stop many resilient devotees from thronging the popular Kali temples like Kalighat, Dakshineswar, Thanthaniya and Jheel Kalibari in Kolkata since morning.

Kali Puja is celebrated in a grand manner across the state especially in North 24 Parganas district.

Heavy rain accompanied by strong wind, speed up to 100 kmph and high tidal waves are likely to cause damage to kutcha (mud) embankments and roads, disrupting power supply and communication.

The weather system and astronomical conditions will cause tidal waves to reach up to six meters on the coast.

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation along with other services has kept its water pumps ready to deal with any adverse situation due to the cyclone.

The weather agency has advised fishermen not to venture into the sea during October 24-25. Along with this, ferry services have been stopped in the Sundarbans. Apart from this, as a precautionary measure, on October 24 and 25, tourists in the seaside resort towns of Digha, Mandarmoni, Shankarpur, Bakkhali and Sagar have been banned from engaging in water-bound tourism activities.

(with inputs from PTI)