The inhabitants of the sinking island of Mousuni woke up to a bright sunny morning and an unusually calm sea on Friday, two days after Cyclone Amphan wreaked havoc on the island. As the residents of the boat-shaped island, with a population of about 30,000, started clearing the debris, they noticed something unusual about the trees. All of them had turned yellow, their leaves withered and sporting a lifeless look.
Also read: A double disaster: On a cyclone amid the coronavirus
“All the trees have burnt,” island resident Subhas Bhandari said. Mr. Bhandari, who had refused to move to a cyclone shelter on Wednesday, watched the storm from one of the holiday homes he manages at Salt Bheri, the southernmost tip of the island on the Bay of Bengal.
“After hours of wind and rain, it suddenly turned all quiet at 4 p.m., when the eye of the storm passed. Then the rain ceased and gusts of very high speed winds lifted water [droplets] from the seas,” Mr. Bhandari said.
Affirming what Mr. Bhandari had described, many other islanders said the gale was so strong that seawater droplets were carried and deposited on the trees by the wind. Every tree on the island, even mighty banyan trees that had stood their ground, had turned yellow and appeared dead.
Also read: Cyclone Amphan | Worst over for India, says Ministry of Earth