An elderly woman fell victim to cyclone Remal this morning. She reportedly lost her life when a tree fell on the roof of her house. The deceased, Renuka Mandal, was a resident of Bagdanga in the Mousuni village panchayat of Namkhana, South 24-Parganas.
Questions are being raised about why she was not moved to a safer place. On Monday morning, a tree fell on the asbestos roof of her house while she was having her food. The impact of the tree fall resulted in her death. It is noteworthy that the weather office had already predicted storms and rain in Namkhana and residents of the area were moved to safer locations accordingly. Naturally, questions are being raised about why the elderly woman was not relocated to a safe shelter.
However, no response has been received from the administration on this matter. Earlier on Sunday night, a young man from Kolkata lost his life due to the impact of cyclone Remal. According to local residents, Sheikh Sajid, a person from the Bibibagan area 15, was injured by debris from a neighbouring building. He was taken to Nil Ratan Sarkar Hospital in critical condition, where he was declared dead by the doctors. KMC mayor Firhad Hakim expressed his condolences over the death of the young man. In Bermajur, South 24-Parganas there were concerns of an embankment breaching and people in the area were seen fixing it with bamboo. If the embankment breaks, there is a risk of flooding. Hingalganj has been affected by the cyclone. Several mud houses collapsed. Multiple trees were uprooted in Lebukhali, cutting off road communication between Lebukhali, Hingalganj, and Hasnabad. However, vessel services started from Lebukhali to Dulduli. In Kumirmari of Hingalganj, a dam was broken. Gopal Karmakar, representative of Asian Front of Human Rights said that their organisation several times appealed to Central and state for concrete embankment on several rivers of Sunderbans but it did not get any response. Priyanath Chattopadhyay, president of Omkarnath Mission said that their monks and volunteers reached Gangasagar, Kachuberia, Namkhana, Shankarpur to distribute dry foods among the distressed people affected by the cyclone.
In Sarberia, a huge tree had fallen on a house with a tiled roof, causing devastation due to Remal.