Citizens shared several videos of thick sheets of rain, high-velocity winds banging against doors
Trees shaking furiously, electric poles tilting to the ground, tin roofs trembling, battered by winds so strong, it seemed as if the whole landscape was covered with a white veil, showed one of the terrifying videos from West Bengal's Digha as cyclone Amphan roared into the country's eastern coast this evening.
Digha is in East Midnapore, which took a direct hit from the cyclone.
Citizens shared several videos of thick sheets of rain blurring the view, high-velocity winds banging against doors and windows depicting the impact of the cyclone.
Earlier in the morning, heavy rain and crashing waves - a sign of the approaching storm - were seen at the Digha beach.
Authorities scrambled to evacuate more than 6 lakh people as Cyclone Amphan tore through coastal villages, flattening mud houses, blowing off roofs, uprooting trees and laying waste to crop fields.
India Meteorological Department (IMD) Director General Mrityunjay Mohapatra said gale-strength winds speeding at 160-170 kmph were pounding several Bengal districts and could be gusting up to 185 kmph.
He said the eye of the monster cyclone, the most explosive part of the cyclonic system, had touched the land, triggering copious rain in West Bengal.
The weather office said the cyclonic storm will get weaker while crossing over Nadia and Murshidabad in West Bengal later tonight before entering Bangladesh as a deep depression and dissipating.