Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on May 25 that two people died after being electrocuted during a tornado at Chinsura in Hooghly district ahead of Cyclone Yaas. Cyclone Yaas is expected to make landfall on the Odisha coast on May 26. The tornado, which lasted for a minute & a half, destroyed 40 houses, said the Chief Minister at a press conference. The people, assisted by local panchayat members were shifted to a school building. Detailing the preparatory efforts, Banerjee said 54,000 officers & relief workers, 2 lakh police & Home Guard personnel, along with National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams, have been deployed to tackle the fallout of the storm. The weather office has warned that the rapid winds can destroy houses, bend or uproot electric poles and disrupt railway services in coastal and adjoining interior districts of Bengal. The impact of Cyclone Yaas, Banerjee said, could be worse than Cyclone Amphan, which had left a trail of destruction in the state last year.
