Though Banerjee has put on record that state suffered a loss of nearly Rs 1 lakh crore, the intensity of the damage could simply be made out from the fact that nearly 72 persons have lost their lives to the Amphan cyclone; of these, 17 persons were killed alone in the heart of Kolkata. Historical facts underscore that disaster of this staggering scale had taken place in 1737 and at that time around 30 thousand people were killed. In the living memory, people recall, Kolkata had not witnessed this nature of catastrophe. Banerjee also announced an ex-gratia amount of Rs 2 lakh each to the family of those killed in Cyclone Amphan.

This year, too, a large number of people would have been killed, but prompt evacuation of the people in vulnerable areas averted creation of such a cyclonic holocaust. In Kolkata, the storm began with a wind speed of 69 kmph but it reached 130 kmph at around 6.55 pm and thereafter decreasing its intensity. In Dum Dum area, maximum wind speed recorded was 133 kmph at 1920 IST. Districts of East Midnapore, South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas were worst affected. The same areas were affected by Cyclone Bulbul in November 2019.