Through most of Sunday, the southern districts of West Bengal and adjoining areas of Bangladesh received moderate intensity rainfall, accompanied by intense winds. Digha recorded about 45 mm rainfall and areas in South Parganas district received between 25 and 35 mm rainfall on Sunday.

The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) warned of high waves measuring 3.5 to 7.2 metres till Monday night along the coastline between Digha and Bakkhali in West Bengal.

Rainfall is expected to continue in most areas of southern West Bengal on Monday as well, particularly in the districts of North and South Parganas, Purba Medinipur, Howrah and Hooghly, the IMD said.

As a precautionary measure, the authorities suspended flight operations at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata for 21 hours. Officials said 349 flights — both domestic and international — were suspended on Sunday and regular air traffic is expected to resume at 9 am Monday.

The disruption left many passengers stranded, with some taking shelter outside the airports. Passengers also complained that they weren’t informed about the suspended flights on time.

Meanwhile, Eastern Railway officials said the cyclone impacted train schedules for both Sunday and Monday. Over 40 trains were cancelled and five trains were rescheduled in the Sealdah division of the Eastern Railway.

“We are in touch with meteorological authorities and as a precautionary measure have installed camps of officers and staff at different places to take immediate action as required. Pumping stations are open. Standby vehicles are also ready. Hoardings have been removed as a precautionary measure. A few trains have been cancelled,” said Kaushik Mitra, Chief PRO, Eastern Railway.

In New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting to review the preparedness for cyclone Remal at his 7, Lok Kalyan Marg residence, which was attended by Principal Secretary to PM, Cabinet Secretary, Home Secretary, DG (NDRF), DG (IMD), and Member Secretary (NDMA).

In a statement, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said, “The Prime Minister was briefed that the National Crisis Management Committee is in regular touch with the Government of West Bengal… The PM said that the Centre has extended full support to the state government and must continue to do so. He said that the Ministry of Home Affairs should monitor the situation and take a review after the landfall of the cyclone in order to extend necessary assistance for restoration. The Prime Minister has instructed that apart from 12 NDRF teams that have already been deployed in West Bengal and one in Odisha, more teams be kept on standby which can move within one hour. The Indian Coast Guard to deploy its assets for any emergency.”

In West Bengal, the state government set up a 24×7 control room at Nabanna, its secretariat, to monitor the situation in coastal districts and other areas. A control room was also set up in Sundarbans to monitor the cyclone’s movement. “The control room will collaborate with the police, disaster management teams, Kolkata Municipal Corporation, and emergency response forces like the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), the Indian Coast Guard and the civil defence,” the state government said.
While Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged people to stay safe, saying “this storm shall pass too”, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that adequate deployment of NDRF has been made in all the areas where cyclone may have an impact.

Earlier in the day, the IMD issued a warning about potential flooding and significant damage to various structures, power and communication lines, roads, crops, and orchards in the South 24 and North 24 Parganas districts.

The state administration, NDRF, and ICG had been making announcements on loudspeakers to warn residents and advise them to stay safe. The authorities have also set up flood relief camps for about 1.10 lakh people displaced by the storm.

With ENS, New Delhi