Cyclone Amphan, which is expected to arrive in Bengal on Wednesday, is further brewing into a “super cyclone”, the weather report predicted this afternoon. It had intensified into an extremely powerful cylonic storm overnight.
“The Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm ‘AMPHAN’ (pronounced as UM-PUN) intensified into Super Cyclonic Storm at 1130 IST of today, the 18th May, 2020.” The India Meteorological Department or IMD tweeted this afternoon.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to conduct a “high-level” meeting this evening at 4 to review the state of preparation, Union Home Amit Shah tweeted. “. “To review the arising cyclone situation in various parts of the country, PM @narendramodi ji will chair a high level meeting with MHA & NDMA, today at 4pm (sic),” he wrote.
Several southern states were also hit by heavy showers due to the storm. A “very heavy rain warning” has been issued for Odisha, West Bengal, Sikkim, Meghalaya till Thursday (May 21).
“It is very likely to move north-northeastwards and move fast across northwest Bay of Bengal and cross West Bengal and Bangladesh coasts between Digha and Hatiya Islands during 09:00-12:00 pm of 20th May, 2020, as a very severe cyclonic storm,” the latest bulletin released by the weather report concluded.
The coastal areas of Odisha are likely to witness light to moderate rainfall at many places with heavy rains at isolated places from Monday evening. The Odisha government is considering shifting 11 lakh people in the vulnerable areas.The MeT department has issued an orange alert for West Bengal. As many as 17 teams of National Disaster Response Force have been stationed in the two states.
A meeting of NCMC was held to take into account the preparation for the impending cyclone over the Bay of Bengal, an official statement said. Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba took into consideration the current scenario for rescue and relief operations and directed that immediate aid, as required, be provided, it said.
As published in NDTV, though the IMD is yet to make an exact forecast about the landfall of the cyclone, the administration has braced for the impending situation and accordingly, focused on the northern coastal districts of Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak and Balasore, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC), P K Jena said. “If required, evacuation of people will be undertaken in view of the situation,” he was quoted as saying by PTI.
