Thousands left homeless in India

Thousands of people were homeless Thursday after a cyclone battered Covid-ravaged India, killing 4 people. 

Cyclones are a regular menace in the northern Indian Ocean but many scientists say they are becoming more frequent and severe as climate change warms sea temperatures.

Barely a week after Cyclone Tauktae claimed at least 155 lives in western India, Cyclone Yaas forced the evacuation of more than 1.5 million people in the eastern states of West Bengal and Odisha.

The storm hit on Wednesday with torrential rain and howling winds gusting up to 155 kilometres (96 miles) an hour, equivalent to a category two hurricane.

Waves the size of double-decker buses pounded the shore and swamped towns and villages along the coastline, exacerbated by a higher-than-normal tide because of a full moon.Two people died in West Bengal, two in Odisha, officials said.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said more than 300,000 homes were destroyed.

"The water level in the sea and rivers started to swell to over three to four metres (nine to 12 feet) above the normal level and breached embankments in 135 places," Banerjee said.

"Thousands of people are still marooned. We have set up 14,000 cyclone centres to provide shelter to the homeless," she said.

Low-lying areas of state capital Kolkata were also flooded after the Hooghly river rose.

Yaas has since moved inland towards the state of Jharkhand, easing to a deep depression but bringing heavy rains.