even as insat -1 b continues to send data on weather situation, the people of the villages in the border districts of West Bengal and Orrisa were caught unawares at 3 pm on March 24 , 1998, doing their daily chores when the tornado hit the area.

The cyclone which hit with the speed of more than 250 kilometres per hour and lasted for nearly 15 minutes, left behind a trail of massive devastation and human misery. More than 200 people died and around 3,000 were injured and many more were left homeless. At least 17 villages in and around Dantan in Midnapore district have almost been obliterated from the West Bengal map. About 300 families on an average, in each of these 17 villages have been affected.

Nearly 40 school children were killed when a school building collapsed at Raipatna. Over 10,000 cattles also died during the storm. Prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee announced in the Lok Sabha an ex-gratia relief of Rs 50,000 each to the nearest kin of those dead.